Wheat: Southern Punjab misses sowing target

Floods hamper sowing of wheat, 1mn acres not cultivated because of damage to irrigation facilities.

MULTAN: The recent floods have hampered the sowing of wheat in southern Punjab as one million acres of the targeted land could not be cultivated because of damage to irrigation facilities and financial crunch faced by farmers, according to sources.

Against the cultivation target of 16.9 million acres, wheat could only be sown on 15.9 million acres, marking a shortfall of 5.9 per cent and causing fears of a food crisis in the province. Compared to the previous year, wheat sowing was down by about 3.55 per cent.

Per acre production target for the region has been set between 25 and 30 maunds.

Small farmers have been hit the hardest by the floods as the Punjab government has not been able to provide substantial relief to them. As part of the subsidy programme, the government was to distribute free seeds and fertiliser but small farmers say that they have been provided with substandard seeds which cannot be utilised for cultivation. Around 78 per cent of all wheat produced in the country comes from southern Punjab.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22^nd, 2010.