LAHORE, Feb 15: The wheat crop faces an uncertain future in view of the dry conditions and early depletion of dams which has forced the Irrigation Department to announce closure of canals from March 10.

A meeting of the Wheat Working Group has been convened at Ayub Research Institute, Faisalabad, on Monday to review division-wise water availability.

“But there are not many options left with the province,” an Agriculture Department official said. He said there was a 73 percent water shortage. That leaves only 27 percent water, which can hardly fill the bottom of canals. It cannot be used for irrigation purposes, he said.

The only hope is that it rains within a week or so. If it does not rain during the next few days, the crop is in for trouble. Unfortunately, there is no rain forecast, he lamented.

A farmer from the Punjab explained the future of wheat crop by saying that around 60 to 62 percent wheat was sown on time; within the month of November. The rest was sown late. The wheat sown on time might have had some water during the last few days of water availability. But the crop sown late might have to miss two waterings, he said. Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Jhelum, Narowal and Gujranwala districts received some rain during the last week. But it did not go beyond eight millimetres anywhere. This, therefore, is insufficient and would need to be supplemented from other sources.

A spokesman for the Agriculture Department said the authorities were now looking at the option of requesting farmers in the sweet water zone — Gujranwala, Sialkot, Gujrat and some parts of Sheikhupura and Hafizabad — to rely on ground water so that the canal supplies can be kept for the remaining districts. The other option is to what for rain. There is no denying that sub-soil water costs much more and farmers must be compensated for it.

About the worsening water situation, an official of the Indus River System Authority claimed that the shortage was originally estimated at around 51 percent. He said nobody had counted the amount of water consumed by border tension — a substantial amount had to be released in certain canals on account of defence considerations. This took the overall shortage to 73 percent.

A farmer said wheat was not the only crop to suffer. Sugarcane and maize, he said, would suffer equally. Sunflower and fodder crops, too, would be affected. Wheat has been sown on around 15.48 million acres, about one percent more than last year, but no one can predict the yield. If it does not rain, the country may witness a substantial decline in gross domestic product.