Pest and viral are expected to attack the standing sugarcane crops following the rainy spells, the Met Office has warned the farmers in its 10-day advisory. The office asked the farmers to take precautionary measures to protect the key crop. "Farmers are, therefore, advised to take in time precautionary measures in this regard," it added.

It said farmers of rain-dependent areas who obtain water through tube-wells to irrigate their crop should evolve irrigation plans ahead of the expected dry weather. It said the farmers should store wheat grain in a proper way to maintain its quality for a longer period.

"Wheat obtained after threshing should be stored with proper treatment so that wheat may be kept for long time without any loss due to present and expected moist conditions," the office said. "Temperatures are likely to be normal/slightly above normal in the agricultural plains of the country," it said. It said harvesting and threshing of wheat crop have been completed in the most of the agricultural areas of the country. "Due to prevailing dry weather and rising day time temperature, cotton and sugarcane farmers should irrigate the crops as per requirement," it said. It said mainly dry weather is expected in Punjab during the next 10 days, however light rainfall over hills is expected in the province during the forecast period. Dry weather is expected in Sindh, it said. Mainly dry weather is expected in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it said, adding that however light to moderate rainfall at isolated places is expected over most of the agricultural plains of the province.

It said mainly dry weather is expected in Balochistan. It said light rainfall, however, is expected over northern Balochistan. Mostly cloudy weather with light to moderate rainfall over hills is expected in most parts of Gilgit-Baltistan. In Kashmir, it said mainly dry weather with light to moderate rainfall over hills is expected in its isolated parts.

Source - http://www.brecorder.com/