ISLAMABAD: Punjab, which accounts for 75.96 percent of the total wheat production, completed 99 percent of wheat sowing target of 16.795 million acres for Rabi season 2021-22.

“Sindh, which is the second largest producer of wheat completed 98 percent of the wheat sowing target (2.965 million acres), Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa cultivated 85 percent of the wheat sowing target of (2.224 million acres)and Balochistan 80 percent of the wheat sowing target (1.359 million acres),” said a senior official of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (NFS&R), while quoting the figures presented by the provincial government representatives during the wheat review committee meeting presided over by Federal Minister for NFS&R Syed Fakhar Imam.

He said that Sindh province account for 14.54 percent of the total production, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 5.28 percent, and Balochistan 4.21 percent. The official said that the Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA) meeting held on October 7, 2021 had fixed wheat production target at 28.9 million tons for Rabi season 2021-22 from a sowing area of 9.2 million hectares.

Out of 28.9 million tons of wheat, Punjab will produce 21.9 million tons, Sindh 4.2 million tons, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 1.5 million tons, and Balochistan 1.3 million, he said. Imam said during the meeting that the sowing period is the most critical period for a wheat crop and any issues arising should be catered to timely in order to stay on track.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021