SIALKOT: Several farmers have been unable to sow the wheat crop on thousands of acres due to the unusual spell of heavy rains. In November, there was lots of rain in the district.

This situation has worried farmers.

They said that the rainwater standing in fields had made it impossible to plough up and sow wheat along the belt of River Chenab. Several thousands of acres of paddy crop had yet to be harvested due to the rain.

Progressive grower Chaudhry Tajammal Hussain said the season of wheat crops cultivation was over now, as there was no possibility for the wheat growers and farmers to sow the wheat yield in these fields.

He said the situation had also put wheat growers and farmers in a severe financial crisis. He said there would be a shortage of wheat yield in markets in the coming seasons which may impact the prices of the wheat yield.

Farmers along the River Chenab belt expressed grave concern over the miserable situation.

Local irrigation and Agriculture officials confirmed the spell of untimely heavy rain badly affected the cultivation of wheat.

Farmers Allah Rakha, Sarfraz Ahmed Ghuman, Muhammad Shafi, Sufi Ahmed, Chaudhry Ghulam Hussain, Muhammad Siddique, Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Ishaq, Nasir Mehmood, Muhammad Saleem, Ghulam Rasul, Qasim Ali, Luqman, Abdul Rehman and Bashir Hussain demanded financial help from the government.

The Chenab River constitutes the lifeline for agriculture down stream of Marala Head Works near Sialkot and its flow reducing to a trickle in these months, stretching ominous shadows of severe water scarcity for sowing of the seasonal crops including wheat crops as well.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2019