ISLAMABAD, December 12, 2022: Wheat crop sowing for Rabi Season 2022-23 has been completed over 91.74 percent areas across the crop producing areas in the country as against the set targets in order to produce about 28.37 million tons of grains to meet the local requirements as well as for exporting.
So far, the wheat cultivation completed over 19.5 million acres as against the set targets of 22.37 million acres for the current season, said food Security Commissioner in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research Imtiaz Ali Gopang.
While talking to media here on Monday he said that crop cultivation targets were achieved by 85.34 percent and it was gaining momentum due to favorable weather conditions, particularly in rain-fed areas of the country and incentives for Rabi crops by the government.
The crop cultivation targets in Punjab Province were achieved by 91.32 percent as so far grain has sown over 15.05 million acres against the set targets of 16.48 million acres.
The crop output targets for the Punjab had fixed at 21 million tons by the Federal Committee on Agriculture, he said adding that wheat sowing was still in progress and it was expected that more areas would come under wheat cultivation due to incentives introduced by the government and increasing price of the commodity in local markets.
Meanwhile, wheat was sown over 2.07 million acres of Sindh as the province was assigned a task to grow crop over 2.79 million acres in order to produce about 4 million tons of grains during Rabi Season 2022-23, he added.
The crop cultivation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces were achieved by 81.98 percent and 41.18 percent respectively, he said adding that wheat sown over 1.82 million acres of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 0.56 million acres in Balochistan.
The crop output for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during current season was fixed at 1.8 million tons by growing the crop over 2.22 million acres and Balochistan it fixed at 1.57 million tons by putting about 1.36 million acres under wheat cultivation, he added.
It is worth mentioning here that Ministry of National Food Security and Research in collaboration with provincial governments providing over 3.183 million bags of certified wheat seeds to the farmers of floods affected areas to ensure maximum sowing of major cash crop of the season to revive agriculture and avert the impact of catastrophe in the country, he added.
In this regard a digital application had been developed to deliver and distribute seeds among the flood-hit farmers in a transparent and efficient manner. Each seed bag would comprise 50 kg of different approved verities while the cost of the scheme amounts to Rs17.16 billion and it would cover about 78 percent areas affected due to floods and torrential rains during current moon soon season.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister had announced a special package worth Rs1,800 billion to promote and develop the agriculture sector and provide farmers, particularly in the flood-hit areas free seeds, and inexpensive loans and to bring down prices of fertilizers and electricity.
