CHAKWAL: The rain on Monday and Tuesday has given local farmers hope of a bumper wheat crop.

“I have cultivated wheat on eight acres and because of the timely and heavy rain, I am looking forward to a promising yield,” said Asif Ali Khan, a farmer in Chakwal.

Other farmers in the Potohar region are happy with it raining when the wheat crops needed it the most.

“The wheat crop in the Potohar region is at the tillering stage, when plants grow lateral branches, and plants need much moisture during this stage. It rained just in time for this,” said Dr Mohammad Khalid, assistant director agriculture extension, Chakwal.

Wheat has been cultivated on 300,000 acres in the Chakwal district, he said, and that a bumper yield is expected this year due to the timely rain.

However, the rain has also led to the growth of various weeds in the wheat fields.

“Farmers should spray herbicides in their wheat fields so that weeds which have just started growing can be eradicated,” Dr Khalid said.

He also urged farmers to use urea fertilisers on their wheat crops for better yield.

“Enough moisture has gathered in the soil due to the rain and there is also enough dew to mix the urea in the soil,” he said, and suggested half a bag of urea for one acre.

On the other hand, though it rained heavily in most areas of the Rawalpindi Division, it did not rain in the Talagang Tehsil.

“It did not rain in our area and the wheat crop is not expected to be good,” said Haji Mohammad Din, a farmer in the Darot Village who has cultivated wheat over 16 acres. He said he is worried about his crop as the area did not receive any rain.

“The government should focus on building small dams in our areas so that maximum land can be irrigated,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2019