KARACHI: The Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA), the high-powered body mandated to oversee strategic measures for ensuring food security in the country, has set the production targets of major crops for the kharif season 2024-25.

At its meeting in Islamabad on Wednesday, the FCA decided to set production targets for cotton at 10.8 million bales, 8.7m tonnes for rice, 9.3m tonnes for maize, and 76.7m tonnes for sugarcane. Targets for other crops such as mung, mash, and chilies were also fixed.

Chaired by Minister for National Food Security and Research, Rana Tanveer Hussain, the committee meeting, attended by provincial agricultural departments and key stakeholders, noted that water availability in canals will remain at 63.61 million acre-feet (MAF), compared to last year’s 61.85 MAF. Currently, all provinces are receiving satisfactory supplies in the system.

The director general of Federal Seed Certification informed the meeting that seeds of rice, maize, sesame, and mung bean will remain available as required.

The FCA directed concerned departments to remain vigilant in balancing the supply and demand situation of fertiliser for quick import decisions to meet domestic requirements during the upcoming kharif season.

An official from the State Bank of Pakistan informed that allocations of institutional credit for agriculture had substantially increased to Rs2,250 billion for 2023-24. Disbursements up to February 2023 reached Rs1,073.5bn, which is 59 per cent of the overall annual target of Rs1,819bn and 28.5pc higher than the disbursement of Rs835.3bn made during the previous year.

The Meteorological Department informed the FCA meeting that from April to June, normal to slightly above normal precipitation is expected in most parts of the country, particularly over upper Punjab from May to July.

Above normal precipitation is likely in August and September 2024. The area-weighted normal rainfall of Pakistan during the monsoon season is 140.8 millimetres.

While reviewing the performance of the outgoing rabi season crops for 2023-24, the committee observed that wheat production is estimated at 29.69m tonnes from an area of 9.6m hectares, a 5.4pc increase over the last year.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2024