JEE News, citing sources, reported that Punjab is likely to fall short of its wheat sowing target for the 2022-23 season, which could be termed as a major setback for the country’s food security.
Due to failure of the Sindh government to sow up to 75% of the targeted 4 million acre area due to flood ravages, the progress of wheat cultivation in Pakistan’s main agricultural fields has been slow, resulting in the national cereal. The production will decrease.
Meanwhile, the Punjab Agriculture Department, in the middle of the wheat sowing campaign, has reached an official decision that cultivation cannot be made possible on the targeted land this year.
According to the Crop Reporting Service of the provincial agriculture department, Punjab may fall short of the 16.5 million acre target set by the Federal Committee for Agriculture (FCA) this year.
“We are expecting to bring the area under wheat in the province to at least last year’s level of 16.2 million acres despite several challenges. However, the target of 16.5 million acres for this year’s area is missed by a narrow margin. Hopefully,” said an official.
Talking about the current pace of wheat sowing, he estimated that about 74% of the target area had been planted by November 20, 2022, traditionally considered the best time to grow a good crop. However, he was quick to add that with climate change, the optimum sowing period is now considered to have extended to November 30.
The official said two rains in recent weeks have delayed sowing of wheat in the rice area and caused unnecessary disruptions in the start of sugarcane crushing in the mixed crop area. Keeping in view the sowing trend, it was estimated that wheat cultivation would be largely completed by the first week of December.
The main pillar of the wheat sowing campaign this year is timely sowing, use of certified seed in maximum areas and promotion of fertilizer use. Farmers are being provided subsidy on seeds and fertilizer bags.
Responding to a query regarding the delay in sugarcane crushing, the official feared that the stubborn attitude of sugar traders to press their demands could delay the sowing of up to 10 lakh acres, which is a very large amount. It is a matter of concern.
Regarding the availability of urea, the agriculture department official was of the opinion that local production of this important nutrient could not keep up with the demand due to shortage of natural gas.
“We are expecting that the shortfall of about 500,000 tonnes of urea can be met by timely imports,” he added.
Punjab will receive 140,000 tonnes of the 200,000 tonnes of urea already imported. He said the remaining 300,000 tonnes would be imported by December this year.
The main reason for the relatively low projected area under wheat is the low economic value of the wheat crop. Khalid Khokhar, president of Kisan Ittehad, said that competitive crops like oilseeds are giving tough challenge to wheat mainly due to better returns in the local market.
He said the government’s emphasis on raising support prices was a viable option to some extent, especially considering the potential burden on consumers due to higher food prices.
On the contrary, he added, the government should take measures to reduce the cost of production, which could help farmers maintain a profitable business.
He also expressed fear that the area of ​​wheat sowing in the province will not be as much as the government wants to cultivate.
