Photo Credits: Associated Press of Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Jul 13 (APP): Rice crop cultivation targets for Kharif season 2020-21 was fixed at 2, 957 thousand hectares in order to produce about 7.999 million tons to fulfil domestic requirements as well as for exporting.
Rice is among the major cash crops of the country which is used as staple food and also contributes in national exports significantly, said an official in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.
Talking to APP here on Monday, he said that the rice cultivation target for Punjab Province during the current season was set at 1,900 thousand hectares for producing about 4.200 million tons of the commodity. He said that average per-hectare crop output in the country was fixed at 2,702 kg, adding that in order to set marks, the government would ensure availability of all inputs including high yielding certified seeds and pesticides and would equip the growers with the best management practices.
Meanwhile, rice crop cultivation targets for Sindh were set at 800 thousands hectares with a production of 3.00 million tons, he added. The average per- hectare rice output in Sindh was fixed at 3,750 kg, he said adding that in Punjab it was fixed at 2,211 kg per-hectare.
During Kharif season 2020-21, about 67 thousand hectares would be put under rice cultivation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to get about 0.190 thousand tons of rice, he added. Per-hectare output during the season under review in the province was fixed at 2,836 kg, he added. In order to exploit the agriculture potential of Baluchistan Province as well as enhancing the farm income of small scale growers, rice crop would be grown over 67 thousand hectares in order to produce about 0. 600 million tons of the commodity, he added.
It may be recalled that local rice production was more then domestic requirements as Pakistan was exporting the surplus rice to different countries of the world and fetched billions of dollars of foreign exchange. During the period from July-May, 2019-20 the country earned $2.024 billion by exporting over 3.893 million tons of rice, according to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. During 11 months of last financial year about 3.873 million tons of rice valued at $1.927 billion was exported, it added.
Meanwhile, exports of Basmati rice during the period under review also registered about 27.62 percent growth as about 852,117 metric tons of Basmati rice worth $724.511 million was exported as compared to 597,639 metric tons valuing $581.814 million of same period of last year.
During the period under review, the country fetched $1.281 billion by exporting about 3.01 million tons of rice other then basmati as against the exports of 3.242 million tons valuing $1.281 billion for the same period of last year.
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