ISLAMABAD, Dec 14: Timely rains have helped farmers to achieve 75 per cent of the wheat sowing target ahead of schedule.

According to statistics sent to the federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) by the provinces, of the 8.5 million hectares target area, farmers were able to sow wheat on 6.5 million hectares.

This means that 76 per cent of the target area has so far been brought under wheat cultivation.The Minfal’s Agriculture Development Commissioner, Qadir Bakhsh Baloch, told Dawn that by Dec 8, farmers in Punjab were able to complete sowing on 81 per cent of the target area. The government has asked Punjab to sow wheat on 6.4 million hectares of which sowing had been completed on 5.2 million hectares till the end of the first week of the current month.

In Sindh, 70 per cent of the target area had been brought under wheat cultivation by Dec 10. Mr Baloch said Sindh had been assigned the task to sow wheat on 0.982 million hectares, of which the province had completed sowing on 0.691 million hectares.

“We hope that this year we will achieve the wheat sowing target even in the presence of 22 per cent water shortage for Rabi,” Mr Baloch said.

He said sowing on 60 per cent of the target area had been completed in the NWFP by Nov 26.

The NWFP has set a wheat sowing target of 0.754 million hectares this season, of which 0.455 million hectares has been brought under wheat cultivation.

In Balochistan, however, only 50 per cent of the target area had been brought under wheat cultivation by Nov 27. The province had been asked to sow wheat on 0.4 million hectares this season.

Mr Baloch said Minfal hoped to achieve the wheat sowing targets as rains had helped the farmers speed up sowing. He said by the end of the sowing season (Dec 20), the final statistics would be even better.