LAHORE, Dec 4: The wheat sowing situation in the province has further improved during the last two weeks and the area sown has now exceeded the figures for the corresponding period last year by 4.66 per cent.

According to the Agriculture Department, growers in the Punjab have already sown wheat on 9.632 million acres, which is 62.32 per cent of the overall target of 15.458 million acres for this year. By this time last year, 9.204 million acres had been sown.

The districts falling behind the target area, mostly from the barani (rain-fed) area include Attock, Jhelum, Chakwal, Khushab, Bhakkar, Mandi Bahauddin and Gujranwala. The districts exceeding the targets mostly from the cotton belt, are Vehari, Bahawalpur, Lodhran, Rahim Yar Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Leiah, Toba Tek Singh, Jhang, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Okara.

“Picking in the cotton area has vacated most of the land in the southern Punjab. That has been the dominant factor during the past two weeks.” a department official said. The best thing about the sowing results has been its timing. With over 62 per cent area sown in November, if it rains in mid-December, as predicted by meteorological experts, the chances of a good crop would improve despite the 51 per cent water shortage.

The reason rain-fed areas are lagging behind could be the fact that harvest year even was less than even the seed sown. On top of it, there has been no rain in these areas since September.

About Punjab Seed Corporation’s claim that it made record sale in the rain-fed areas, the spokesman said, this reflected the increasing awareness of the advantage of certified seed.