CHAKWAL: Mohammad Ikram and his brothers, while harvesting their wheat crop, look excited and happy. “By the grace of Allah, this year the crop is healthy,” Ikram told Dawn in the Odherwal village near the Chakwal city.

As the month of Visakh (from mid-April to mid-May) arrives, the villages get deserted in the day as all the hustle and bustle shifts towards the fields.

The farmers in Chakwal were in a state of despair due to a dry spell from November to January. However, the belated but heavy rains witnessed in February and March and even in April brought smile to the distressed farmers.

“We were thinking that this year we would not be able to get wheat even for our domestic need but now we are expecting to get a bumper crop,” Ikram added.

In the Chakwal district, wheat was cultivated on 320,000 acres with the agriculture department setting a target of 230,400 tons of yield.

The officials in the agriculture department had feared 30 per cent less wheat yield than the set target but now they are of the view that the target would be achieved easily. “The plants of wheat sprouted well but then they went through a dry spell which lasted for three months and this stress once dampened our hopes,” said Dr Mohammad Khalid, the district agriculture officer (technical). “But the belated and heavy rains in February and March changed the situation and now we would achieve our set target.”

Besides, the temperature also remains balanced, he added.

The belated rains also proved beneficial for those villagers who do not own agricultural land as they are also doing their best to collect enough wheat for their domestic use by cutting the crop on rent called laai.

If a person cuts wheat on an acre, they can get 96kg to 144 kg wheat from the land owner. “We are going to cut wheat from 20 acres and by this way we could collect enough wheat for our domestic use,” said Mushtaq Ahmed who has an extended family.

In Chakwal, farmers hardly use harvesters rather they prefer to cut wheat by hand as they need the husk for their animals.