TAXILA: The current dry spell has rendered the standing wheat crop in Taxila and adjacent areas in the Potohar region vulnerable to slow growth and diseases and farmers of Taxila, Wah Cantt and Hassanabdal, which are un-irrigated or arid areas, are preparing to record losses.

`You wake up early, look at the crop and you want to give up.

It is depressing,` said 27-yearold Malik Jehandad, who is a third generation farmer and owns a few acres of land, the wheat crop on which is fast drying up due to the dry spell and the low temperatures.

Farmers of the rain fed areas said they cannot afford for it to not rain in the next couple of weeks, since it did not rain at all in December and that wheat sowing in the area had started in the last week of October and the beginning of November.

A local farmer, Tahir Suleman said that the seeds germinated due to the soil being rich in moisture in rain fed and irrigated lands but fertilizers could not beused on the crop at a later stage in their growth without the availability of sufficient water in the soil. He said the dry spell has therefore left the standing crops in Taxila vulnerable to slow growth and diseases.

Local farmers say that if it doesnotrain soon, thereis apossibility that 400kg per acre less wheat will be produced this year.

Chairman of the Kissan Council, Shaukat Ayub said that farmers and residents of the area were offering prayers for rain every day after being urged to do so by local religious leaders.

Deputy District Agriculture Officer Tahir Mehmood said the wheat crop in the Potohar region is about 40 to 45 days old.

An estimated 80pc of the wheat cultivated area of the region is rain fed and that the dry spell could therefore have a negative effect on the output of Rabi crops especially that of wheat and gram, he said.

He said the agriculture department is working on making an advisory with help from other departments and is reviewing the impact of the weather on the standing crops.