ISLAMABAD: The monsoon floods have destroyed 3 million bales of cotton, 1.7 million tones of rice, 79,000 tones of Mung pulse, the Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA) estimated on Monday.
Only sugarcane output was estimated to remain close to the production target of 54 million tones. Addressing a news conference, after the meeting the Minister for Agriculture Nazar M Gondal that the Kharif crops had suffered a huge loss of Rs 281.6 billion.
Against the domestic cotton and rice requirement of 15 million bales and 2.5 million tonnes, only 11 million 4.2 million tonnes had been produced, he said. Sugarcane production may fall to 3.2 million tones against the earlier estimates of 4 million tons,he said. Pulse mung and mash requirements were 106,000 tonnes and 45,000 tonnes and only 80,000 and 10,000 tonnes had been produced.
The domestic requirement for wheat is 23.5 million tones and the provinces would hopefully sow on time, he said. The domestic requirement for grams is of 600,000 tones. He said the provinces were directed to devise strategy for promotion of pulses cultivation in their jurisdiction.
The minister said the outlook for Rabi season was positive as dry season was forecasted during the crop sowing period of November and December while normal precipitation was expected during January to March period. The water availability for Rabi was estimated 32.17 Million Acre Feet (MAF) against 25.52 MAF last year.
The availability of urea fertilizer will be 3.4 million tons that is sufficient to meet the local requirement. The DAP fertilizer availability for the season is 799,000 tons against the local requirement of 670,000 tons.
The provinces were directed to negotiate with fertilizer companies to device a price stipulation mechanism of DAP fertilizer in the country, he said.
