Farmers urged to sow standard wheat

Spokesman says farmers of irrigated areas should complete cultivation of 'Fakhar Bhakar' variety by November 15

LAHORE:

The Punjab agriculture department has advised the farmers of the irrigated areas to cultivate approved wheat varieties within the stipulated.

The department's spokesman said on Sunday that the farmers of irrigated areas should complete cultivation of 'Fakhar Bhakar' variety by November 15, while ‘Bhakar star’ must be sown from November 10 to December 10.

He said varieties including Arooj 22, Durum 2021, Akbar 19, Dilkash 20, NARC Super, Ghazi 19, Subhani 21, Rehbar 21 and MH 21 must be cultivated by November 30.

He said sowing of Johar 16, Borlag 16, Zincol 16, Ujala 16, Anaj 17 and Faisalabad 8 must be completed from December 1 to 10, while cultivation of Sadiq 21 and Nawab 21 should be completed for all districts of south The spokesman said the farmers should use 40 to 50kg of seeds per acre during current month 50 to 55kg from Dec 1 to 10. The germination rate of the seeds should not be less than 85 per cent.

To get a good yield of wheat, it was very important to prepare smooth and levelled land besides ensuring removal of weeds, he maintained.

He said farmers should level the land with a laser leveler and divide the fields into small sections before ploughing so that a larger area could be ploughed with less water.

He said, "When sowing time is near, farmers must plough and harrow before sunrise." Repeating this process two or three times would help in destroying weeds and the soil moisture would increase, ultimately ensuring good growth of wheat, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th, 2022