LAHORE – The Punjab Agriculture Department has banned sowing rice nurseries before May 20 to check the trend of taking two rice crops in a season.
According to the officials, farmers sow nurseries very early and cultivate two rice crops in one season. This practice puts stress on the available water resources, such as the canal and the groundwater.
The said scenario is also against the interests of the farmers. Last year, farmers faced heavy losses due to the heat wave, which led to poor grain formation and lower yields.
Due to these reasons, Punjab has banned sowing nurseries before May 20 to save resources and prepare farmers to face the challenges of climate change.
Agriculture Department officials quoted reasons behind the ban on early sowing of rice nurseries.
“Farmers sow rice early to get two crops in a season. It is putting additional stress on available water resources”, said an official of the Agriculture Department.
Besides that, he said, the early sown rice crop is also getting low yield due to high temperatures.
He said that the technical committee formed to investigate causes of low yield last year had recommended banning sowing rice nurseries early and taking two crops in a season. He said that the seed companies have also been asked to provide seeds to dealers near the sowing period recommended by the agriculture department.
