LAHORE, Dec 8: The Punjab cultivated wheat on 10 million acres by Nov 30 against the target of 15.35 million acres, says the Punjab Crop Reporting Centre.

According to official figures released on Monday, the sowing is slightly behind schedule keeping in view the target.

The Punjab Agriculture department is optimistic that the target would be met by Dec 15, the deadline for wheat sowing.

CLAIMS REJECTED: A department official was of the view that farmers tend to exaggerate their problems. “There is no doubt that growers have had different problems like pest attack on cotton, scarcity of fertilisers. But they try to project a bleak scenario to attract government attention. This might be getting the intended results, but it creates a social scare also.”

jBut farmers’ bodies on Monday again accused the government of ‘mismanagement’ of the crop and feared substantial reduction, both in acreage and production. The government is itself to blame for the food crisis which it is experiencing this year and would be facing next year. It would be spending around $35 per ton on the transportation head alone. But, it was not ready to take corrective measures on the home front, they lamented.