April 10, 2006	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 11, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, April 9: The ongoing heavy rains in the country may prove to be beneficial for the wheat crop, but a prolonged wet spell could damage the crop in Sindh and Punjab, Meteorological department said here on Sunday. The Met office has forecast the wet spell to persist in the next 24 hours that will help increase the grain size in the country’s upper parts, including the NWFP and the earthquake-hit areas of Azad Kashmir, where the crop is still not ready for harvest.

An official of the Meterological Department said that the crop in the lower parts of the country would be damaged if the rains persisted for a few more days, particularly in Sindh, where the harvest is almost in its final stages and where rains had already damaged 27 per cent of the crop a couple of weeks ago.

“We don’t see any prolonged rains in Sindh. Dry weather is likely to prevail over the province in the next 24 hours,” Imran Ahmed, a Met office official said.

Meanwhile, acting Wheat Commissioner of the Federal Agriculture Ministry Dr Shakeel Ahmed Khan said that the ministry would ask the Met office to submit a report on the future weather situation on Monday. Provinces would also be asked to closely monitor the situation, he said.

The Federal Committee on Agriculture has already lowered the wheat production target by 1.5 million tons. The new target is 20.5 million tons against the previous 22 million tons.

Upper Punjab and the NWFP witnessed scattered rains on Sunday while more rains are expected in the next 24 hours in Northern Punjab, including Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and upper NWFP and Azad Kashmir.

Skardu received 87mm rainfall on Sunday while Balakot 77mm, Muzzafarabad 58mm, Abbotabad 51mm, Babusir 46mm, Murree 39mm, Dir 37mm, Mirkhani 30mm, Chitral and Islamabad 25mm, Rawalpindi 21mm, Parachinar 21mm, Gilgit 18mm, Saidu Sharif 18mm, Mianwali 7mm and Jehlum 5mm.