CHAKWAL, May 27: Chaudhry Rizwan Haider who had been getting a bumper crop for the last many years was left with no other option but to plead villagers for reciting the Holy Quran and praying to Almighty for rain.

The continued dry spell has shoved the farmers of Chakwal into the fire from the frying pan as after the poor yield of Rabi crop, the sowing of peanut has also been delayed.

Peanut is considered one of the major cash crops of the district and farmers pin high hopes on it. According to agriculture experts there is no other crop in Rawalpindi division which could compensate the hard toil of farmers better than the peanut. Across the province of Punjab 87 per cent of the peanut is cultivated in Rawalpindi division and out of it, 60 per cent is grown alone in Chakwal district. So Chakwal is the largest peanut producer in the country.

The proper time of cultivation of this crop is from the last week of March to the mid of April but it can also be sown till the end of May.

For current year, the Agriculture Department Chakwal has set the target of peanut sowing to 80,000 acres but presently only 40 per cent of the set target could be sown as most farmers are still waiting for the rain which would bring moisture to the dried up land. Even the sown seeds have not started to sprout due to the unavailability of moisture in the land.

If the current draught persisted for another week, the country might face a severe decline in the yield of peanut this year. “We have been left high and dry by the prevailing dry spell as we have hoped that the heavy loss caused by the poor Rabi crop will be compensated by a bumper peanut crop but our pains have further intensified as we could not cultivate it due to draught-like conditions”, moaned Rizwan Haider.

He further said that he had bought the seed paying a heavy price of Rs190 per kilogram but the whole 320 kg of seed was rotting at home.

“Punjab government should take urgent steps to rescue the farmers belonging to the arid areas”, he appealed.

He also requested the chief minister of Punjab for the provision of turbines to the farmers of Chakwal so that they could irrigate their lands.

Ghulam Asghar Jaffri, a progressive farmer from Pindi Gujran village, seemed equally worried. “I have to cultivate peanut crop on my ten acres but I am unable to do so due to the draught”, he said with a heavy heart.

Talking to Dawn on phone from Islamabad, Director National Agromet Centre Dr Khalid Mehmood Malik said that the current dry spell in Rawalpindi division would last till the end of June.

“In the months of May and June there is no encouraging prediction of rain in Rawalpindi division, however, due to heat we may witness more thunderstorms”, he maintained. He further said the monsoon rains would also remain five per cent below the average, this year.