The on-going late widespread rains in upper / central Punjab have brightened up prospects of key Rabi crops wheat, gram, canola, sunflower, vegetables, fodder and fruit orchards, Director General Agriculture extension services Dr Anjum Ali told Business Recorder on Thursday.
He said that grams crop sown over 2.2 million acres in Punjab and the wheat crop sown over 1 million acres in the non-irrigated areas of upper Punjab has face hardship due to prolonged dry spell in the months of December and January. The late rains are great blessings for the farmers and the country as a whole for boosting the prospects of Rabi crops “a normal rainy spell can add 5 per cent to the seasonal crops output but current winter rains might give better results, he added.
He said Punjab had set a target of 19 million tons production of wheat sown over 16.75 million acres and 0.5 million tons of grams during 2013-14 Rabi season. In its daily weather report the Met Office said that widespread rain (with snow over the hills) occurred in KP, upper/central Punjab, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, while at scattered places in South Punjab and north-east Balochistan on Thursday.
Weather forecast for today: Widespread rain (snowfall over the hills) is expected Islamabad, upper Punjab (Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore divisions), upper KP (Malakand, Hazara divisions), Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, while rain is expected at isolated places in Peshawar, Sargodha and Faisalabad divisions. Fairly widespread thunder-rain with snowfall over the hills is likely to occur over Northern Balochistan. Scattered thunder-rain with snowfall over the hills may occur over Southern Balochistan.
There are also chances of land sliding at some places in mountainous regions. Rainfall (MM) recorded during last 24 hours: Saidu Sharif=30, Dir=29, Bannu=28, Khuzdar, Parachinar, Murree=25 (each), Mianwali=23, Multan=21, Ghari Dupata, Malamjabba=20 (each), DI Khan=19, Muzaffarabad=18, Risalpur=16, Kakul, Rawalakot=15 (each), Lower Dir, Zhob=14 (each), Balakot, Pattan, Islamabad A/P=13 (each), Sargodha=12 Samungli (Quetta), Kalat, Islamabad Z/P=12 (each), Cherat, DG Khan=11 (each), Peshawar city=10, Peshawar A/P, Shorkot=09 (each), Okara, TT Singh, Sibbi & Kohat=08 (each), Noor Pur Thal, Mandi Bahauddin, Chakwal=07 (each), Kasur, Johrabad, Bahawalpur, Kalam=06 (each), Sahiwal, Kotli=05 (each), Lahore (A/P and City), Bahawalpur A/P, Mangla, Drosh=04 (each), Chitral, Gujranwala, Jhang=03 (each), Khanpur, Dalbandin, Sialkot, Faisalabad, Gujrat, Sheikhmand (Quetta)=02(each), Bahawalnagar, Nokundi, Jacobabad, Jhelum=01 (each), R Y Khan=Trace.
Snowfall: Parachinar 1.5 feet, Murree, Dir, Saidu Sharif 01 foot, Malamjabba 08 inches, Kalam and Chitral 03 inches (each).
