Punjab is likely to miss gram production target of 539,000 tonnes set for the current Rabi season as it is facing severe threat due to negligible rain received by the Barani areas, where it is mostly sown in the province. Speaking to Profit, a senior official in the Punjab Agriculture Department said that the crop had been sown over an area of 2,370,000 acres of land in the province. It is mostly sown in Barani area falling in districts of Mianwali, Khushab, Bhakkar, Layyah, Jhang and Muzaffargary. Last year, this crop had been sown on an area of 2,400,000 acres in the province and area under this crop had slightly decreased this year. However, sources in the agriculture department said this decrease is not that important as farmers do make changes in their sowing pattern every year. But, the important thing is that now when the crop is in critical stage of growth, its growth is badly hampering due to less rain fall this year. The sources said that the gram crop direly need two to three good spell of rains in which these areas should receive seven to eight millimetre of water to keep the prospects of a good crop and meeting the production target alive.
