ISLAMABAD, Nov 21: Forecast of moderate rains in upper parts of the country in the first week of December has given a new hope to millions of farmers faced with irrigation water shortage and an unusually dry weather during the ongoing Rabi sowing.

The Pakistan Metrological Department, Islamabad, has forecast rains in upper parts of the country and northern Balochistan during the last days of the current month and the first week of December, which may bring down temperatures, sustain humidity in the air and dampness in the soil vital for sowing of wheat.

“Yes, we expect some rains in the upper parts of the country early next month,” Zaheer Ahmed Babar, a deputy director at Islamabad Met Office told Dawn.

At present, day temperature is 2 to 3 degrees centigrade higher than usual in Sindh and Balochistan, which has added to the woes of farmers busy in Rabi sowing and faced with 22 per cent less water than actual requirement this season.

“Farmers completed 20 per cent of Rabi sowing by Nov 10 and we hope that rains after the next week could be of great help to them,” said Qadar Bakhsh Baloch, the agriculture development commissioner at the federal ministry of food, agriculture and livestock.

He said 70 per cent of Rabi sowing area was located in the Barani areas and the next month’s rains would not only recharge water storages but would also prove helpful to farmers in these areas.

Mr Baloch said that Rabi sowing would last till Dec 20 and the latest official figures revealed that sowing was going on at a normal pace.

“From the figures, which we have received from the provinces so far, I can tell you that sowing process is going on pretty normal,” he observed.

He said by Nov 10, farmers in Punjab and Sindh, the two main wheat growing provinces, had completed 20 per cent of sowing. He hoped that the wheat-sowing area target would also be achieved.