ISLAMABAD: The prolonged winter is taking its toll on farmers in the region and summer varieties of crops are not growing properly because of lower temperatures.

`I am concerned for the standing wheat crop, which is not growingproperly,and also aboutvegetables,` said Syed Zahid Hussein, who is a farmer in Bhara Kahu.

Bhara Kahu was hit by a hailstorm two days ago and there is a possibility that some of the summer variety seedlings that have just been planted have been damaged.

`The cooler weather and untimely rains will damage the wheat crop, which should be turning dry and turning golden yellow now,` he said.

Because of the rain spells and cooler weather, the wheat crop can fall due to strong winds or develop black fungus and in case ofeitherhappening, the situation will worsen because of inadequate sunlight and continuing rains.

Another westerly wave which has entered the country and is affecting the western parts of the country add to the worries offarmers and also those who have taken up home gardening.

The Met Office has said this system was likely to enter the upper and central parts of the country between Friday and Saturday night and may persist in the upper parts of the country till Monday.

The system will bring rain and thundershowers with gusty winds and even hailstorms across the northern and centralparts of the country, including Rawalpindi and Islamabad, the met office said.

`This pattern is due to the ending of El-Nino in the region and it is expected that there will be more rain spells in April and that winters will be prolonged this year, said Dr Mohammad Hanif, the spokesman for the Met Office.

Due to regular rainfall in March and April this year, temperatures remained lower than the average for these months.

The temperature on the night between Thursday and Friday was 13 degrees Celsius and the maximum temperature on Friday was 29 degrees.

The temperature is likely to drop to 26 degrees on Saturday due to clouds and cool winds coming from the north.

This is in sharp contrast to thetraditional weather conditions during these days.

According to the met office, the minimum average temperature is 16 degrees and the average maximum is 30 to 32 degrees in the second week of April.

These lower temperatures are harmful to the summer vegetable crops in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

`We planted seedlings in the last week of February and early March but many of them did not take,` said Mohammad, a young home gardener.

Experts say one of the bigger reasons for the seedlings failing to take is an inadequate drainage system in which rainwater could have accumulated.

`These conditions are challenging but not very serious and we are trying to inform home growers and commercial farmers to adapt to the new conditions, said Dr Ghulam Jellani, the director at the directorate of vegetables.

He said too much moisture, cool nights and limited sunlight would definitely slow the growth of plants and that there was a need for developing weather resistant varieties of vegetables in case the current weather pattern becomes normal.