Rain to enhance wheat crop yield: Punjab Agri Department

Chandigarh, Feb 15 (PTI) The state agriculture departmenttoday said rain lashing the northern region today will bebeneficial for wheat crop grown in Punjab and Haryana as itcould help in enhancing the yield of the winter crop.

"Rain at this point of time is beneficial for wheat as itwill improve the yield of the crop. If the weather continuesto remain conducive, then we may have record wheat output thisyear," a senior official of Punjab Agriculture Department saidhere today.

Light to moderate rains today lashed most parts of Punjaband Haryana. Narnaul, Rohtak, Ludhiana and Karnal recordedrainfall of 17 mm, 12.8 mm, 5.4 mm and 3.2 mm, respectively.

Wheat, a rabi crop, is sown in November and December andharvested in April.

Punjab and Haryana have targeted area under wheat at 35lakh hectares and 24.65 lakh hectares, respectively for rabiseason 2010-11.

Wheat acreage in Punjab and Haryana stood at 35.22 lakhhectares and 24.92 lakh hectares in 2009-10.

Both states during current season are eyeing wheat outputof 269 lakh tonne in Rabi season 2010-11, up 5 per cent overlast year''s production.

Punjab has projected wheat production of 154 lakh tonnes,against an output of 151.69 lakh tonnes last season.

Haryana has set a target to achieve wheat output of114.62 lakh tonnes in the current season, which will be almost10 per cent higher than last year''s wheat production of 105lakh tonnes.

On the back of good rainfall observed just before sowing,both states are optimistic about high yield of wheat crop.

Punjab is looking at yield of 4,400 kg per hectare, againstlast year''s yield of 4,370 kg. Similarly, Haryana is seeingits yield at 4,650 kg a hectare, against 4,213 kg last season.