20000224

B'stan cultivable

land increases

by 18pc

RECORDER REPORT

QUETTA: Balochistan total cultivable land has increased by 18 percent, total cropped area by 78 percent, recording decrease in current fallow land by 23 percent and in cultural waste by 3.3 percent.

An official spokesman confirmed here on Wednesday that wheat had increased by 74 percent in area (from 0.248 to 0.430 million hectare) and 125 percent in production (from 0.412 to 0.930 million hectare).

He attributed this to corrective steps taken by the present government. "This vertical increase is due to development of four high-yielding wheat varieties: Sariab, Zardana, Zamindar and Zarghoon: by Balochistan research institute for cultivation on commercial scale in the province."

He added that a positive increase of about 30 percent has been recorded in the yield of the crop. Another dominating crop is rice, which has also shown positive and productive trend in area, production and yield.

About cash crop, the spokesman said, cotton cultivation over 50,000 acres of land in Lasbela, Loralai, Nasirabad, Khuzdar and Dadhar introduced in the province has given promising results with bright chances of cotton cultivation extension to more than 200,000 acres of land.

Balochistan cotton is of better quality as compared to other cotton producing provinces because of its good quality and safety from frequent floods, viral and other natural disaster.

To a question about any new variety of fruits and vegetables introduced in Balochistan, the spokesman said apple production has increased by 448 percent (from 85,090 tonnes to 0.466 million tonnes) and area wise by 262 percent (from 9,748 to 35,414 hectare).

Similarly, the areas and production of dates have increased by 352 percent (from 9,312 hectare to 42,175 hectare) and 383 percent (from 83,600 tonnes to 0.436 million tonnes). This increase in area and production, he added, could be attributed to the introduction of new variety of apples and dates in the province.