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FCA to review Rabi crops next week

RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA) would hold its 72nd meeting next week to review Rabi crops 1999-2000 and prepare production plan with position of inputs for Kharif crops 2000-2001.

The agenda of the FCA meeting specially made available to Business Recorder states the wheat position as satisfactory, as germination of the crop is also satisfactory in all the provinces. Overall the wheat area has increased four percent in acreage as compared with last year. The position of inputs application were also satisfactory.

The plantation of 50 percent acreage of wheat in Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan was timely during the month of November 1999. Ninety percent of the wheat sowing was completed up to December 20,1999 and rest of the area was sown up to January 10,2000.

The dry spell affected the crop in the early days in the barani as well as irrigated areas. However, the condition of crop was improved became of rains in the months of January and February.

The report states that the acreage of wheat sown in Punjab registered an increase of five percent as the present acreage is 6.2 million hectares.

Wheat acreage has also increased in Sindh by one percent with 1.1 million hectares under wheat cultivation and crop is satisfactory in the province.

Area sown in NWFP decreased by two percent of the targeted area as the wheat area in province is 0.8 million hectares. Crop condition is satisfactory in irrigated and hilly areas.

Balochistan wheat acreage also registered a decrease of two percent with 0.3 million hectares cultivated for wheat. Crop condition is satisfactory in irrigated areas of the province.

GRAM

The production of gram has shown erratic trend in the past years due to drought diseases and cold stress which have resulted in fluctuations in production as it is grown on barani areas and marginal lands. Gram is a major crop that contributes more than 70 percent to the production of pulses.

The target for 1999-2000 was set at 1,105,000 hectares with production target of 772,000 tonnes. However, the acreage was over 1,098,000 hectares while production estimates are awaited and a good gram crop is expected as some rainfall occurred in the main producing areas.

LENTILS

The target area for lentils was fixed at over 70,000 hectares with a production target of over 41,000 tonnes the crop is still at the growth stage, states the report.

Potato acreage for 1999-2000 was set at over 106,000 hectares with a production target of 1,778,000 tonnes. The crop is sown three times a year and so far the production estimates are expected at 1890,000 tonnes. The domestic requirement is 1,340,000 tonnes with an exportable surplus of more than half a million tonnes.

ONION

The target acreage for onion was fixed at 81,000 hectares with a production target of 1,250,000 tonnes. The total production of the crop is expected at 1,608,000 tonnes.

The domestic consumption of onion is 1,300,000 tonnes with a an exportable surplus of 300,000 tonnes, commerce ministry has withdrawn regulatory duty and minimum export duty on the export of onion. ALMA has already graded 60,000 tonnes of onion for export.