The agriculture department has set a target of 16.5 million acres for wheat sowing in Punjab this year for getting 19 million tons wheat yield.

Giving details, a spokesman of the agriculture department said on Wednesday that in Faisalabad division, the wheat would be cultivated over 200,400 acres of land where 2,493,123 metric ton wheat yield was expected.

He said that growers had been advised to cultivate approved varieties of wheat in addition to using seed graders for selecting healthy seeds and getting bumper crops.

Among the approved wheat varieties include NARC-2011, Aas-2011, Millat-2011, Punjab-2011, AARI-2011, Faisalabad-2008, Lasani-2008, Meraj-2008, Fareed-2006, Shafaq-2006, Pasban-90, Chakwal-50, NARC-2009, PARS-2009, Dhurabi-2011, Sehar-2006, etc.

Farmers should also use drill instead of adopting broadcasting method (Cchatta) for wheat cultivation as Cchatta system not only causes wastage of seeds but also decreases the productivity, he added.