KARACHI, Feb 13: The ministry of agriculture hopes that the province will achieve the wheat production target of 3.5 million tons, set for the current season, in the light of positive reports about the crop condition.

However, the Sindh Abadgar Board has expressed apprehensions about reaching the crop target saying that the province may face a shortfall of about 0.6 million tons due to shortage of water and urea highly required for final application before the harvest, which is to begin from Feb 24.

A spokesman of the ministry told Dawn on Friday that the higher acreage under the wheat crop to 1,027,678 hectares this season compared to 989,869 hectares last season, had raised the chances that the wheat target would not only be achieved but it would be surpassed.

The spokesman admitted that there was water and urea shortage in some areas but it was unlikely to affect the crop adversely. “The department has so far distributed 85 per cent of the total requirement of urea for the crop,” he informed.

He attributed the urea shortage to increased area under wheat crop and additional application of the fertiliser substituting the costly DAP which is beyond the reach of small growers.

The spokesman said that there were reports of early harvesting in border areas like Umerkot, but in other areas it would commence in March and would continue till April. In Upper Sindh, harvesting had been delayed until May due to the damage caused by the winter rains.

He added that tempo of harvesting would depend on the wheat prices as there were concerns about the declining trend on the international markets.

The government has raised wheat support price to Rs900 per maund this season, from Rs625 per maund last year, to encourage growers to bring more area under cultivation. However, the growers are also pinning hopes on the government assurance that Passco will open wheat procurement centres from March 1 in the province.

Meanwhile, Sindh Abadgar Board Chairman Majid Nizamani told Dawn that wheat harvesting in the kaccha areas of Dadu and Jamshoro would begin from Feb 24. He was of the view that the shortage of water and urea at the crucial stage of grain formulation might affect the production.

He said that higher prices of urea, which jumped from Rs670 to Rs1,000 per bag, had discouraged farmers to have a final application of booster to the crop.

He feared that if immediate measures were not taken to increase water and urea supply, the province may lose 0.6 to 0.7 million tons of wheat this season. He said urea smuggling to Afghanistan, where it is being sold at Rs2,000 per bag, was another factor causing shortage of the fertiliser in the province.

He said that wheat target would also be affected due to damage to the crop in Upper Sindh by the winter rains. “The government has not yet arranged any survey to ascertain the amount of damage to the crop,” he deplored.