STAFF REPORT PSR: Pakistans wheat production is likely to exceed 24.5 million tons during the current Rabi crop season. Punjab and Sindh achieved have 100 per cent wheat cultivation targets, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan also achieved over 90 per cent cultivation targets, officials said. Similarly, wheat production in Punjab is likely to remain 19 million tons, in Sindh four million tons, a million tons in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and around half a million tons in Balochistan.
They further said that public sector wheat procurement would be around 7.5 million tons, including 4 million tons by Punjab Food Department, 1.5 million tons by Sindh Food Department and 1.5 million tons by Passco. Punjab achieved 100 per cent wheat sowing target for cultivating the vital food crop on 16 million acres of land and is likely to produce 19 million tons of staple grain, a senior official of Punjab Agriculture Department.
In Punjab an additional area of thousands acres has been brought under wheat cultivation in rain-fed zone of Rawalpindi division and rice and cotton growing areas of other districts of the province to boost wheat output the officials said.
Due to weather conditions and regular rainfall, the per acre yield is likely to improve by 5 percent for achieving bumper wheat crop of 4.5 million tons to fulfil the domestic requirements as well as export, the official added.