LAHORE: “After Corona, food security has become the first priority in the world. Wheat is our main food crop, which the current government is well aware of, and this is the reason why many practical measures are being taken to achieve a bumper production of wheat this year”.

Director General Agriculture Extension Punjab, Dr Anjum Ali said this while addressing to the farmers convention organised in Bahawalpur in the context of campaign to grow more wheat with the cooperation of Punjab Agriculture department and private fertiliser company.

He further said that the national plan is to increase wheat production. Subsidy is being provided to the farmers to increase the production of wheat at 16.5 million acres of land. This year, the target of wheat cultivation for the province of Punjab is 16.5 million acres while the production target has been set at 21 million metric tons, which is to be achieved. All resources are being utilised for this.

Last year, wheat was cultivated on area of 731000 acres in Bahawalpur district, from which 1052000 tons of production was obtained. This year also the farmers will cultivate wheat on maximum area under the national spirit. To increase the production of wheat per acre this year, the farmers should be given subsidy of Rs 1200 per bag of approved varieties of wheat and herbicides. Apart from this, the implementation of the program of providing modern agricultural machinery worth billions of rupees to the farmers on 50 percent subsidy is also ongoing to promote the mechanized cultivation of wheat.

On the occasion, Director Agriculture Extension Bahawalpur Jamshed Khalid Sindhu said that wheat, kamad and cotton crops are high in Bahawalpur division. He said that farmers should follow the advice of agricultural experts so that wheat production can increase. He said the average yield of wheat per acre in the division is 36 maunds per acre, which needs time to increase to meet the country’s food requirements.

He said that the farmers should apply fertilizers and irrigation timely to the wheat crop planted in early November, as any delay at this stage would affect the production. The Department of Agriculture Extension staff is present in the field alongside the farmers for the awareness and technical guidance of the farmers regarding modern production technology of wheat. In addition, print, electronic and other media are also being used to ensure the achievement of the target of increase in acre production.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022