ISLAMABAD: The Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA) on Thursday set production targets for major kharif crops (2021-22) including cotton at 10.5 million bales, rice 8.2 million tonnes and sugarcane at 74.84m tonnes.

The FCA set wheat production target for this year at 26.04m tonnes – an anticipated increase of 1.7 per cent over last year.

Cotton will be sown in an area of 2.33m hectares, rice over 3.07m hectares and sugarcane on an area of 1.18m hectares. The target for maize production was set at 6.8 million tonnes. Production targets for mung, mash and chilies were also set.

The committee meeting, chaired by Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhr Imam, was informed that the expected shortfall of water for kharif crops will be 16pc. Water availability in canal heads is anticipated at 67.60m acre feet (MAF) for kharif crops during April-September 2021 period. Presently, all the provinces are getting satisfactory water supplies in the system.

The Pakistan Meteoro­logical Department infor­med the committee that based on climate projections, country will experience normal to slightly above normal rainfalls. The gradual rise in temperature will accelerate snowmelt in the Northern Areas and subsequently increase runoff in the upper Indus region. Low rains may cause water stress for the standing crops, especially in the barani areas (rain-fed belt).

The Met office representative said that fewer rains and seasonal rise in air temperatures may intensify the ongoing drought conditions over south-western Balochis­tan and Tharparker region of Sindh. Accordingly, judicious use of available water stock is recommended.

The FCA was informed that potato production for 2020-21 has been estimated at 5,742.7 thousand tonnes from an area of 2,26.1 thousand hectares which showed an increase in production of 829.7 over last year. The committee also discussed the production achievements of other essential crops including gram, lentil, onion and tomato.

The committee was informed that the availability of rice and maize seeds will remain as per requirement. Despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the agricultural credit disbursement made by lending institutions is gradually picking up pace. During July 2020 to February 2021, agriculture lending institutions have disbursed Rs806.4 billion which is 53.8pc of the overall annual target and 2.9pc higher than the disbursement of Rs783.8bn made during the same period last year.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2021