Minor crops production witnessed positive growth during last year

ISLAMABAD, Apr 26 (APP):Due to suitable weather condition during the crop sowing season 2017-18 production of gram pulse increased by 3 percent, where as production of bajra, jowar and rapeseed and mustard witnessed increase of 9.8 percent and 0.1 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, the production of onion, mash and chillies posted growth of 8.1 percent and 4.2 percent and 3.8 percent.
However, the production of pulse lentil and potato remained same as last year’s, where as the production of moong remained 8.7 percent lower.
The major oilseed crops grown in the country include sunflower, canola, rapeseed and cotton, where as total availability of edible oils during 2016-17 remained at 3.623 million tonnes of which local production contributed 0.431 million tonnes (12 percent) and the import share of edible oil/oilseeds was 3.191 million tonnes (88 percent).
The import bill of edible oil during 2016-17 was Rs 320.893 billion (US$ 3.063 billion. Besides the production of tractors has seen a remarkable growth of 37.6 percent during FY 2018
(July-February) compared to the production of same period last year.