The high-powered Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA) meeting reviewed the bumper production of almost all major crops including cotton and rice, preparations for the upcoming Rabi Season 2023-24, and the food security situation in the country.
The committee fixed the target for Wheat production at 32.12 million tons for an area of 8.9 million hectares. The committee meeting was held for Rabi Season (2023-24) under the Chairmanship of Prof. Dr Kauser Abdulla Malik, Federal Minister for National Food Security & Research.
The Committee reviewed the performance of the Kharif Crops (2023-24) and the Production Plan for Rabi Crops (2023-24). The Committee also discussed the situation of inputs for Rabi Crops (2023-24). The Committee was informed that Cotton production for 2023-24 is provisional estimated at 11.5 million bales from an area of 2.4 million hectares showing a bumper increase of 126.6 percent in production over the last year.
Rice production for 2023-24 is provisional estimated at 8.64 million tons from an area of 3.35 million hectares showing an increase of 12.7 percent and 18 percent in area and production respectively over the last year.
Mung bean production for 2023-24 is estimated at 143.6 thousand tons from an area of 198 thousand hectares showing a decrease of 9.2 percent in area however, an increase of 6.4 percent in production over the last year.
Mash for 2023-24 is estimated at 5.28 thousand tons from an area of 7.36 thousand hectares showing an increase of 12.95 percent and 24.65 percent in area and production respectively over the last year.
The Chilies production for 2023-24 is estimated at 1.36 thousand tons from an area of 122.1 thousand hectares showing an increase of 1.4 percent and 2.3 percent in area and production respectively over the last year.
Whereas, the production targets for Gram, Potato, Onion, and Tomato are fixed at 410, 6330, 2494, and 666 thousand tons respectively. The seed availability for Rabi Crops was also discussed in the house and it is informed by DG, FSC&RD that certified seed availability for the Rabi, 2023-24 will remain satisfactory.
Water and Fertilizer Availability:
For Rabi 2023-24, the IRSA Advisory Committee has anticipated a shortage of water by 15 percent for Punjab & Sindh during the Rabi season. Provinces are allocated 31.66 MAF of water. Prevailing weather conditions are supportive and the shortage is manageable.
The Metrological Department informed that overall, normal to slightly above normal precipitation is expected in most parts of the country, particularly over northwestern regions. However, slightly below-normal rains are likely over the plains of Punjab and Sindh during the month of October. It is also noted that the temperature may remain above normal in most parts of the country.
The committee was informed that to stabilize the food security situation in the country, the Government is trying its level best to facilitate the farmers by providing inputs at affordable prices on one hand and is also making efforts to ensure the better price of their produce to bridge the gap between the cost of production and output price in favor of farmers.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has assigned an annual indicative agricultural credit disbursement target of Rs. 2,250 billion for FY 2023-24 to 47 institutions, which is 26.7 percent higher than last year’s disbursement of Rs. 1,776 billion.
Accordingly, during July-August 2023 (FY 2023-24), the agricultural lending institutions disbursed Rs. 326 billion, which is 14.5 percent of the overall annual target and 44 percent higher than the disbursement of Rs. 226 billion made during the same period of last year. The house also informed that during the upcoming Rabi 2023-24 (November – December 2023) supply of urea and DAP is expected to remain stable.
S.M. Tanveer, Minister for Agriculture, Punjab, Asif Rafiq, Minister for Agriculture Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Major General Shahid Nazeer, DG, LIMS attended the meeting. The meeting had participants from Provincial Agriculture Departments, the State Bank of Pakistan, ZTBL, the National Fertilizer Development Center (NFDC), the Pakistan Meteorological Department, the Indus River System Authority and senior officers of the M/O National Food Security & Research participated in the meeting.
Attendees also included Chairman PARC and heads of Ministries/attached departments viz., Agriculture Policy Institute, Federal Seed Certification & Registration Department, Pakistan Oilseed Department, Department of Plant Protection, Federal Water Management Cell and Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO.
|
REVIEW OF KHARIEF CROPS 2022-23 & 2023-24 |
| Area in “000” Hectare | ||||||
| Production in “000” Tons | ||||||
| Province / Crop | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | % Change | |||
| Area | Production | Area | Production | Area | Production | |
| COTTON (Production in “000” bales) | ||||||
| Punjab | 1485.00 | 3210.00 | 1680.00 | 6958.00 | 13.13 | 116.76 |
| Sindh | 590.00 | 1774.00 | 625.00 | 3900.00 | 5.93 | 119.84 |
| Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 2.20 | 4.00 | 3.00 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Balochistan | 70.00 | 92.00 | 101.00 | 650.00 | 44.29 | 606.52 |
| Pakistan | 2147.20 | 5080.00 | 2409.00 | 11513.00 | 12.19 | 126.63 |
| SUGARCANE | ||||||
| Punjab | 938.00 | 66932.00 | 800.00 | 57808.00 | -14.71 | -13.63 |
| Sindh | 289.36 | 16171.73 | 281.51 | 15800.00 | -2.71 | -2.30 |
| Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 90.74 | 4844.24 | 91.66 | 4893.52 | 1.02 | 1.02 |
| Balochistan | 0.69 | 33.17 | 0.71 | 34.13 | 2.90 | 2.89 |
| Pakistan | 1318.79 | 87981.14 | 1173.88 | 78535.65 | -10.99 | -10.74 |
| RICE | ||||||
| Punjab | 2189.00 | 5070.00 | 2356.00 | 5390.00 | 7.63 | 6.31 |
| Sindh | 603.31 | 2011.80 | 792.27 | 2634.00 | 31.32 | 30.93 |
| Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 56.67 | 137.27 | 58.66 | 142.09 | 3.51 | 3.51 |
| Balochistan | 127.00 | 103.16 | 147.25 | 478.70 | 15.94 | 364.04 |
| Pakistan | 2975.98 | 7322.23 | 3354.18 | 8644.79 | 12.71 | 18.06 |
| MAIZE | ||||||
| Punjab | 1244.00 | 10054.00 | 1195.00 | 9371.00 | -3.94 | -6.79 |
| Sindh | 3.07 | 3.15 | 4.50 | 4.23 | 46.58 | 34.29 |
| Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 468.43 | 923.78 | 475.28 | 937.30 | 1.46 | 1.46 |
| Balochistan | 4.52 | 3.18 | 3.89 | 4.67 | -13.94 | 46.86 |
| Pakistan | 1720.02 | 10984.11 | 1678.67 | 10317.20 | -2.40 | -6.07 |
| MUNG | ||||||
| Punjab | 193.00 | 123.82 | 173.00 | 130.15 | -10.36 | 5.11 |
| Sindh | 13.01 | 5.44 | 14.01 | 5.67 | 7.69 | 4.23 |
| Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 5.97 | 3.89 | 6.07 | 3.95 | 1.61 | 1.60 |
| Balochistan | 6.09 | 1.84 | 4.92 | 3.88 | -19.21 | 110.87 |
| Pakistan | 218.07 | 134.99 | 198.00 | 143.65 | -9.21 | 6.42 |
| MASH | ||||||
| Punjab | 1.00 | 0.56 | 2.00 | 0.60 | 100.00 | 7.51 |
| Sindh | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.03 | 0.02 | 50.00 | 100.00 |
| Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 0.85 | 0.79 | 0.87 | 0.81 | 2.83 | 2.80 |
| Balochistan | 4.65 | 2.88 | 4.46 | 3.85 | -4.09 | 33.68 |
| Pakistan | 6.52 | 4.24 | 7.36 | 5.28 | 12.95 | 24.65 |
| CHILLIES | ||||||
| Punjab | 8.00 | 22.41 | 9.00 | 24.01 | 12.50 | 7.13 |
| Sindh | 36.19 | 84.20 | 35.24 | 84.34 | -2.63 | 0.17 |
| Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 0.45 | 0.52 | 0.46 | 0.53 | 2.22 | 2.13 |
| Balochistan | 9.90 | 12.17 | 10.58 | 13.20 | 6.87 | 8.46 |
| Pakistan | 54.54 | 119.30 | 55.28 | 122.08 | 1.36 | 2.33 |
|
PROPOSED PRODUCTION PLAN FOR RABI CROPS 2023-24 |
|||
| Area“000”Hect. | |||
| Production “000”Tons | |||
| Yield “kg/ha” | |||
| Province / Crop | Targets Proposed by FCA 2023-24 |
||
| Area | Production | Yield | |
| WHEAT | |||
| Punjab | 6474.84 | 25000 | 3861 |
| Sindh | 1200 | 4000 | 3333 |
| Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 781.03 | 1600 | 2049 |
| Balochistan | 542.27 | 1520 | 2803 |
| Pakistan | 8998 | 32120 | 3570 |
| GRAM | |||
| Punjab | 768.0 | 322.0 | 419.3 |
| Sindh | 22.0 | 23.1 | 1050.0 |
| Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 30.0 | 15.5 | 516.7 |
| Balochistan | 40.0 | 49.4 | 1233.8 |
| Pakistan | 860.0 | 410.0 | 476.7 |
| LENTIL | |||
| Punjab | 4.0 | 3.0 | 750.0 |
| Sindh | 3.5 | 2.1 | 600.0 |
| Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 4.5 | 2.9 | 653.3 |
| Balochistan | 2.0 | 1.5 | 735.0 |
| Pakistan | 14.0 | 9.5 | 679.3 |
| POTATO | |||
| Punjab | 233.0 | 6264.3 | 26885.4 |
| Sindh | 0.7 | 6.8 | 9750.0 |
| Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 2.5 | 31.8 | 12726.0 |
| Balochistan | 1.9 | 27.5 | 14478.9 |
| Pakistan | 238.1 | 6330.5 | 26587.4 |
| ONION | |||
| Punjab | 40.0 | 600.0 | 15000.0 |
| Sindh | 60.0 | 911.4 | 15190.0 |
| Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 12.0 | 242.3 | 20195.0 |
| Balochistan | 40.0 | 741.1 | 18527.3 |
| Pakistan | 152.0 | 2494.8 | 16413.4 |
| TOMATO | |||
| Punjab | 9.0 | 176.0 | 19555.6 |
| Sindh | 30.0 | 195.0 | 6499.5 |
| Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 3.0 | 45.5 | 15155.0 |
| Balochistan | 6.0 | 250.2 | 41702.5 |
| Pakistan | 48.0 | 666.7 | 13888.9 |
| Chillies | |||
| Punjab | 9.0 | 16.2 | 1796.7 |
| Sindh (Kharif only) | 17.0 | 32.6 | 1914.7 |
| Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 1.0 | 0.2 | 210.0 |
| Balochistan | 5.0 | 7.8 | 1554.0 |
| Pakistan | 32.0 | 56.7 | 1771.9 |
