Agri. Education Pakistan

Surface of Rawal Lake near Islamabad --- Reuters Like his farming neighbours, Bilal Khan plants wheat in late October or early November each year, and harvests and sells his winter crop a few months later. But this year there are no wheat stalks are to be seen on his three hectares of land in Rawat, a town some 20km from Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. Instead, Khan is growing onions, potatoes, cauliflower, cabbage and carrots. In late October, the Pakistan Meteorological Department informed Khan and other farmers that no rain was forecast for the crucial wheat-growing months of November and December in parts of northern Pakistan that rely solely on rain-fed agriculture. The warning was one of the first of its kind from Pakistan’s weather service, aimed at helping farmers look ahead months, rather than just days, and plan for crops more likely to survive drought. “As advised by the weatherman on the radio, I exercised caution and opted for vegetable cultivation, it being...