Food basket: Punjab achieves 98% wheat sowing target
Provincial agriculture minister says growers are being provided every facility to boost.
Jhelum, Khushab, Bhakkar, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, Narowal, Sheikhupura, Okara, Sahiwal, Pakpattan, Multan, Khanewal, Layyah, DG Khan and Bahawalpur districts have surpassed the 100% target.
LAHORE:
Punjab has achieved 98% wheat sowing target for cultivating the vital food crop on 16.8 million acres of land in the province that is likely to achieve an output of 19.2 million tons of staple grain, Punjab Agriculture Minister Ahmad Ali Aulakh told APP on Sunday.
Additional area of thousands acres have been brought under wheat cultivation in rain-fed zone of Rawalpindi division and rice and cotton growing areas of other districts of the province to boost wheat out put.
He said Jhelum, Khushab, Bhakkar, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, Narowal, Sheikhupura, Okara, Sahiwal, Pakpattan, Multan, Khanewal, Layyah, DG Khan and Bahawalpur districts have surpassed the 100% target while other remaining districts have sown wheat on more than 95% of the targeted area.
Aulakh said that Rawalpindi, Jhelum and Gujranwala districts have been ranked the best for achieving 122 %, 118 % and 106 % target of wheat cultivation, respectively.
He said that farmers are being granted loans on easy terms and condition under one window operation. He said billions of rupees worth of subsidy is being given to growers for the purchase of agriculture implements including tractors.
On the special directive of the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, fertilisers essentially needed for wheat sowing have been made available to all farmers at their doorsteps, Aulakh claimed.
He hoped that production target would be met through proper crop management and plant protection.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 21st, 2013.
Punjab has achieved 98% wheat sowing target for cultivating the vital food crop on 16.8 million acres of land in the province that is likely to achieve an output of 19.2 million tons of staple grain, Punjab Agriculture Minister Ahmad Ali Aulakh told APP on Sunday.
Additional area of thousands acres have been brought under wheat cultivation in rain-fed zone of Rawalpindi division and rice and cotton growing areas of other districts of the province to boost wheat out put.
He said Jhelum, Khushab, Bhakkar, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, Narowal, Sheikhupura, Okara, Sahiwal, Pakpattan, Multan, Khanewal, Layyah, DG Khan and Bahawalpur districts have surpassed the 100% target while other remaining districts have sown wheat on more than 95% of the targeted area.
Aulakh said that Rawalpindi, Jhelum and Gujranwala districts have been ranked the best for achieving 122 %, 118 % and 106 % target of wheat cultivation, respectively.
He said that farmers are being granted loans on easy terms and condition under one window operation. He said billions of rupees worth of subsidy is being given to growers for the purchase of agriculture implements including tractors.
On the special directive of the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, fertilisers essentially needed for wheat sowing have been made available to all farmers at their doorsteps, Aulakh claimed.
He hoped that production target would be met through proper crop management and plant protection.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 21st, 2013.