Representatives of provincial agriculture departments have, however, underlined the need for adequate supply of urea and phosphate fertilisers to achieve better results during the months of November and December.
The committee met at the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms here on Tuesday under the chairmanship of National Food Security and Research Minister Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan.
It reviewed the performance of crops sown in the Kharif season, which runs from April to September, and the production plan for Rabi crops. It also discussed the supply of agricultural inputs in the Rabi season, which starts from October and ends in March.
Meeting participants told the committee that the country was expected to produce 64.74 million tons of sugarcane from planting over an area of 1.13 million hectares. Rice output was estimated at around 6.72 million tons from an area of 2.76 million hectares.
Production of other crops such as maize, chilli and moong were also discussed in the meeting. The target for gram crop was fixed at 0.72 million tons from an area of 0.99 million hectares while the country was likely to produce 2 million tons of onion. Potato crop was expected to stand at 3.56 million tons for the 2014-15 season.
Officials apprised the committee about water availability for the current Rabi sowing season with assurance of sufficient supplies. The Meteorological Department provided the data gathered by the Indus River System Authority (Irsa), which showed that water levels in the reservoirs were better compared to last year.
Additionally, the Met Department expressed optimism that there were better prospects of rains in upper parts of the country.
The committee noted that certified wheat seeds would meet 25% of the requirement of farmers. A representative of the State Bank of Pakistan pointed out that the agriculture credit disbursement target for banks had been increased substantially to Rs500 billion for 2014-15 against last year’s Rs380 billion. The committee noted with relief that the supply of pesticides and herbicides would be satisfactory.
According to projections, the supply of urea fertiliser is estimated at 2.49 million tons against demand for 3.1 million tons, requiring import of 0.185 million tons.
It was, however, stressed that urea should be imported on time and the local fertiliser manufacturing units should produce sufficient quantity of fertilisers to meet the needs of farmers during crop planting in December and January.
The supply of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) for the Rabi season was put at 1.02 million tons against the requirement of 800,000 tons.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 15th, 2014.
Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ