PESHAWAR: The recent heavy downpour and mild hailstorm in central Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have left owners of fresh fruit orchards with little hope of having a good harvest, according to leaders of farmer associations.

Fruit orchards in Peshawar, Charsadda, Swabi, Nowshera, Mardan and its adjoining Malakand areas have experienced loss of blossoming flowers on fruit trees, including plum, peach, apricot and loquat.

`The delayed rains came at the wrong time,` said Naimat Shah Roghani, vice-president of Anjuman-i-Kashtkaran, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said farmers were expecting 40 per cent less produce of fresh fruits in Mardan district because of the heavy rains from Sunday to Tuesday.

Rizwanullah, president of Kissan Board,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said rains harmed orchards in Swat and Malakand Agency, leaving growers with little hope of a good harvest this season.

Peshawar, Charsadda, Mardan, Swabi, Malakand, Swat, and parts of Nowshera district have significant area under peach, plum, apricot and loquat orchards with thousands of farming families dependent on the seasonal harvest.

The central Khyber Pakhtunkhwa received heavy rains for three days, leaving fresh fruit producers with bitter memories.

`The first 15 days in the beginning of March every year are crucial to fruit orchards as this happens to be the period when fruit trees blossom and become vulnerable to harm in case of rains or hailstorm,` said Malik Naveed, who takes fruit orchards on rent every season.

He said the recent rain spell left fruit orchards in pretty bad shape in Harrichaund, Batkhela, Tangi, Shabgadar, Abazai, Akbarpura, Taaru, Dargai and parts of Peshawar.

`Growers and contractors should expect 25-30 per cent less produce this season, particularly, in the case of apricot, peach and plum,` said Mr Naveed.The next few days, he added, were vital because more rains would be devastating for the growers as the fruit trees were in the seasonal blossoming phase.

Nonetheless, the rains were not bad at all for every farmer in these areas.

According to farmers` representatives, the recent spell of precipitation brought a sigh of relief for the wheat growers, particularly, in Barani (rain-fed) parts of the province, where the crop had suffered slow growth and termite attack due to no-to-little rains in December, January and February.

`Rains were really timely for the wheat growers of Gandhab and other rain-fed areas in Mardan,` said Mr Roghani, a sugarcane grower from village Sanwal Dher, Mardan.

Similar developments have been reported from Malakand Agency, where, according to Kissan Board`s provincial president Rizwanullah, recent rains have benefited the standing crop. He said the farmers could now expect to touch the breakeven point at the end of the cropping season.

`It would have been much better for the farmers if there had been rains between Feb 15 and Feb 20 when the irrigation water was needed the most in areas dependent on rains and the canal-based irrigation,` said MrRizwanullah.

Samad Saafi, general secretary of Kissan Board, Nowshera district, said the wheat growers would hopefully recover the cost of production because of the recent rains.

Around 52 per cent of one million tons of wheat produced locally comes from the rainfed parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the remaining from irrigated areas dependent on irrigation canals and tube-wells.

Saafi said that wheat crop, in both the irrigated and rain-fed areas of the province, was in need of irrigation water prior to the recent rains.

`The cultivated land was getting drier because of the irrigation water shortages,` said Mr Saafi. While the rain-fed areas were suffering water shortages because of low-to-no rains, the canal dependent areas were without irrigation water because of the closure of canals due to the annual canal cleaning campaign.

Mr Rizwanullah said the canal cleaning campaign took longer to complete this year as a result the growers` water related woes were multiplied. However, the ample rainwater, he added, would positively impact the tobacco growers as they needed to irrigate their lands for cultivating tobacco.