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20.1m tons wheat output likely this year
ISLAMABAD, April 4: The output of wheat crop
2003-04 is likely to touch 20.1 million tons,
which will be sufficient to fulfil the country's
requirements during 2004-05, the Federal Committee
on Agriculture (FCA) was informed here on
Saturday.
The FCA meeting, under the chairmanship of Food,
Agriculture and Livestock Minister Sardar Yar
Muhammad Rind, reviewed the performance of various
crops for 2003-04, fixed targets and considered
availability of water and chemical inputs for the
forthcoming Kharif crops.
The meeting was attended, besides the federal food
and agriculture secretary, by Sindh Agriculture
Minister Arif Mustafa Jatoi, the Punjab
agriculture secretary and senior officials from
NWFP and Balochistan.
The FCA was told that the actual production of
wheat would exceed the target by a slight margin
of 0.1 million tons in 2003-04. The output of the
wheat crop of 2002-03, it was reiterated, was 19.2
million - a figure which, however, was contested
by knowledgeable quarters.
The widespread skepticism on the matter tended to
be reinforced by the sporadic shortages and spiral
of wheat flour rates that continued throughout the
outgoing year.
As regards other crops, the meeting was given the
following estimates of production in 2003-04:
Cotton 10.1 million bales; rice 4.9 million tons;
sugarcane 52.6 million tons; maize 1.9 million
tons; moong 0.168 million tons; potato 2.1 million
tons; and onion 1.5 million tons.
The targets for different crops of Kharif 2004-05
were fixed by the committee as follows: cotton
10.7 million bales; rice 5.1 million tons;
sugarcane 50.7 million tons; maize 2.1 million
tons; and moong 164,000 tons.
WATER: The meeting was informed that water
availability during Kharif 2004-05 was projected
to be 67.4 MAF as compared to 65.9 MAF in 2003-04.
It was expected that the availability of water
during the sowing season of cotton would fall
short of requirement by four per cent. During the
last year, the water shortage was two per cent.
Nevertheless, the committee was assured that the
water availability situation during the remaining
season would be better than the last year.
CHEMICALS: Nitrogen and potash fertilizers would
remain available during the Kharif season. As
regards pesticides, these would be available in
required quantity for cotton and other Kharif
crops.
A pesticide policy would be announced to ensure
quality and moderate prices of these
agro-chemicals, the meeting was further informed.
CREDIT: The meeting also noted that a credit line
of Rs65.6 billion was available with the bank
during 2004-05 as against Rs62 billion of the
previous year.
The DAWN |
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Pakissan.com; Advisory Point
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