Kharif crops yields witness significant increase

The Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA) was informed on Thursday that the output of all major Kharif crops, including sugarcane, rice, oilseeds and pulses, witnessed a significant growth, while the area under cultivation also rose.

An FCA meeting, chaired by Food Security Minister Fakhar Imam, was informed that the area under sugarcane cultivation in Punjab increased by 20.68% as compared to last year, 0.96% in Sindh, 3.37% in Balochistan. However, the cultivation area decreased by 0.8% in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

Compared to the previous year’s data, the sugarcane production rose by 21.18% in Punjab, 0.53% in Sindh, 0.14% in K-P and 9.54% in Balochistan.

In addition, the area under rice cultivation was increase by 20.30% in Punjab as compared to the previous year. In K-P it increased by 0.25%, in Balochistan by 1.77%, but Sindh witnessed a decline the rice cultivation area.

Similarly, rice production in Punjab witnessed a 20.27% growth during the season, where as in Sindh it was decreased by 3.24%. The rice production in K-P increased by 0.77% and rose by 2% in Balochistan.

The meeting was also apprised of the data about the area under moong pulse cultivation, which grew by 22.54% as compared to previous year, whereas peanut production in the country increased by 57.13%.

Speaking on the occasion, Imam emphasised the need for using modern technology, better seeds, balanced use of fertilisers in order to achieve higher yields. He said paddy and sugarcane crops were better but cotton production was declining due to pink ball worm and white fly attacks.

The minister further said that minimum support price of wheat would be decided in the next week and fertiliser would be provided to the farmers on subsidised rates. He called for taking needful steps to increase wheat production.

Food Security Secretary Omar Hamid Khan told the meeting that the purpose of the meeting was to formulate a strategy for the production target of all crops. “We will bring the Prime Minister’s agricultural vision into practice,” he said.

Omar said that a dashboard would be set up for authentic data collection and agro-zoning laws would be amended in collaboration with the provinces.