ISLAMABAD – Due to favourable climate conditions, sufficient availability of agricultural inputs and best management practices, bumper wheat crop production of 25 million tons is expected during the current year.
Different crop measuring indicators have shown significant improvement that indicate healthier prospects for the year, Chief Agriculture Policy Institute, Abdul Rauf Chaudhry said.
Talking to APP here on Friday, he informed that as compared to the last year, the balanced use of fertilizers would help grain formation to improve the per acre yield output. Another indication of achieving bumper wheat crop is the improvement in N:P Ratio which is used for balanced use of fertilizers like potash and phosphors or nitrogen as compared to the last year, he added.
He said that balance use of these two major inputs against the last year would help boost the grain formation and crop output in the country.
He informed that the prices of potash and phosphors decreased during the period under review which helped the farmers to use the balance of both fertilizers for maximizing the field output. API chief said that N:P Ratio during last year was recorded at 4:1 which was improved and recorded at 3:1 during current crop sowing season which would put positive impact on the crop and per acre yield in the country.
Use of certified seeds was also increased as about 20 percent certified seeds were available for the growers, besides sufficient availability of canal water and other herbicides for wheat growers. Increase in wheat supports price up to Rs. 1200 per 40 kg also encouraged the farmers to increase the area under wheat cultivation which would result to produce more wheat than last year, he added.
Rauf Chaudhry said that most important factor which determines the output of any crop is weather conditions adding that regular rain fall during the months of January, February and March also help to achieve a stable and healthy crop in the season. Due to above mentioned factors, per acre yield is likely to improve by 5 percent for achieving bumper wheat crop of 25 million tons to fulfill the domestic requirements as well as to export, he added. It may be recalled that wheat sowing in the country for the crop season 2012-13 registered an increase of 0.44 percent and reached to 8,688.2 thousand hectares.
During the current sowing season wheat crop was cultivated over 8,688.2 thousand hectares as compared to 8,673.7 thousand hectares last year. Crop sowing in Punjab was increased by 0.84 percent during the current Rabi season ascompared to last year. During the current Rabi season 6,537.1 thousand hectare of land was put under wheat cultivation as against 6482.1 thousand hectares last year.
Meanwhile, in Sindh Province wheat has cultivated over 1,059.1 thousand hectare against 1,049.2 thousand hectares which was increased by 0.94 percent compared to the last years sowing.
Rabi crop also witnessed increasing trend in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa where it was up by 0.1 percent and cultivated over 729.3 thousand hectare of land.
In Balochistan, he said that crop sowing decreased from 388.4 thousand hectares during last sowing season and reached at 362.0 thousand hectares in current Rabi seasons.