Wheat output estimated at over 32m tonnes

The Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA) has fixed the wheat production target at 32.12 million tonnes for rabi season 2023-24, an increase of 12.20 per cent over last year’s 28.2m tonnes, according to a senior official of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research on Wednesday. Punjab has been projected to produce 25 million tonnes of wheat while Sindh’s target is 4m tonnes followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s 1.6m tonnes and Balochistan’s 1.5m tonnes. The production target would be achieved from 8.9 million hectares. The FCA meeting was chaired by Minister for National Food Security and Research Dr Kauser Abdulla Malik and attended by agriculture ministers from Punjab and KP besides senior officials of all stakeholders. Fixing the targets of rabi crops for 2023-24, the FCA fixed targets for mung bean, mash, and chillies as well. Mung bean production is estimated at 1.43m tonnes from 198,000 hectares, showing a decrease of 9.2pc in area however, an increase of 6.4pc in production over the last year. Mash is estimated at 5.28m tonnes from 73,600 hectares, an increase of 12.95pc and 24.65pc in area and production, respectively, over the last year.