LAHORE: Record yield of 19 million tonnes wheat, 3.3 million tonnes rice and 43 million tonnes sugarcane has been witnessed in Punjab during the year 2010-11 following a policy of the provincial government to provide maximum facilities to the farmers, said Punjab Agriculture Minister Ahmed Ali Aulak while talking to media here on Thursday.
He said that total production of wheat in 2007-08 was 15 million tonnes, in 2008-09 increased to 18 million tonnes and in 2009-10 it became 17 million tonnes, while in 2010-11 it increased to 19 million tonnes, setting a record in the history of Punjab province.
Similarly production of rice in 2007-08 was over 3.2 million tonnes, in 2008-09 became 3.6 million tonnes, in 2009-10 it was 3.7 million tonnes, while in 2010-11 the production of rice was 3.3 million tonnes.
Replying a question, the agriculture minister said due to load shedding of gas for urea fertilizer factories by the federal government, shortage of urea was created in the market which caused price increase from Rs 850 to Rs 1,800 where as DAP was being sold from Rs 4,100 to Rs 4200.
He said even after many reminders by the Punjab government, the federal government imported fertilizer too late due to which country faced a serious shortage of fertilizer.
In the Rabi season 2011-12 during the months of October to January only 1.5 million tonnes urea fertilizer was available against the requirement of 1.9 million tonnes, while DAP was 0.38 million tonnes against the requirement of 0.59 million tonnes, which affected the cultivation and production of crops.
News Source: Daily Times
