PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is likely to have a bumper wheat crop this Rabbi season as the cultivation area has recorded growth and germination has been good so far, according to knowledgeable circles.

According to official data, the wheat cultivation area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has recorded improvement by four per cent this cropping season compared to the previousyear. Optimism prevails among the agriculture department officials about further improvement as the cultivation is still continuing in some plains of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where farmers are sowing late varieties of the crop.

`Wheat cultivation goes on till late December so there is still a chance of further expansion in the cultivated area compared to 2012,` said an official of the provincial government.

Multiple factors have contributed to the increase and the province`s chances to record a bumper crop this year. Early rains in some of the Barani (rain-fed) parts of the province have largely been responsible for the improvement.

Wheat cultivation in KhyberPakhtunkhwa, said an official, largely depended on rains. Some 52 per cent of the wheat growing area lies in the Barani areas and the remaining 48 per cent usually comprises land depended on irrigation water in various parts of the province.

`Hopefully, we are going to have a bumper wheat crop this year,` said Iqbal Khan, a small farmer from Gandi Omer Khan, Dera Ismail Khan district, a major wheat growing area in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Growers from central KP have also reported increase in the wheat cultivation area due to multiple reasons: early rains in Barani areas, and a good number of tobacco growers having switched to wheat crop this year.`Tobacco growers experienced losses last year after being paid less for their crop in the previous marketing season,` said Khalid Khan, a grower from Swabi, a major tobacco growing central district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said that several growers had cultivated wheat this year, giving up tobacco crop.

`The growers are happy about their decision as the crop has sprouted well,` said Mr Khan, general secretary of Kisan Board, Swabi district chapter.

Wheat is not a water-intensive crop and does not require hard labour as compared to tobacco crop, according to farmers. They hope for good monetary return out of wheat harvest since the government has increased the support price this season.