Wheat production estimated to fall short by 2m tonnes

Pakistan is estimated to produce 26.81 million tonnes of wheat during the ongoing Rabi season against the target of 28.4 million tonnes. While production will be below the target, the area under wheat cultivation also reduced from 9.3 million hectares to 9.1 million hectares. However, the reason for below-the-target wheat production was not explained during a meeting of the high-powered Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA). Interestingly, a press release issued by the ministry of national food security and research on Tuesday highlighted that the production of 26.81 million tonnes of wheat this year reflects an increase of 1.6 per cent over the previous production year. Production plan for Rabi was affected by the 2022 devastating floods that delayed wheat sowing in Sindh. Not only wheat, the production of tomatoes and onion also suffered due to flooding in Sindh and Balochistan. The FCA has set the targets of major crops during the Kharif season 2023-24, anticipating better availability of irrigation water, and expressed satisfaction over the performance of crops during the outgoing Rabi season.