LAHORE, April 11: The wheat harvesting season in the irrigated areas of the Punjab will begin from Saturday. The harvest is already underway in the rain-fed areas of the province.

Some farmers and experts believe that despite the water shortage, the province may be able to achieve the 14.2 million tonnes target set by the federal committee on agriculture. The earlier projections — based on the health of the crop — they said, were likely to prove wrong.

In most of the canal-irrigated Punjab, the crop went without the last watering since the Irrigation and Power Department closed all canals after March 10. Fortunately, temperatures did not rise early and mostly remained up to 32 degrees C. This might have saved the crop from a disaster. Rains during the March also helped in certain areas. Overall, the experts said, health of the crop left much room for optimism.

Water scarcity had not been the only problem. The reduced use of fertilizer was another blow. Use of urea fertilizer was below the desirable level and phosphate use had declined drastically as prices went up to Rs700 per bag.

The Food Department is now gearing up for its procurement drive. The governor has recently assured farmers that the department will continue buying wheat even if it should run out of bags to hold it. The department has been instructed to supply at least 25 per cent of bardana during April.

The governor recently announced that the procurement drive would continue till the last grain to ensure support price stability. The Food Department secretary has announced that the procurement target could be increased from 2.5 million tonnes to 3.5 million tonnes.