Dry spell may cause low yield of agriculture products

In Chitral, Pakistan, farmers are worried over scanty rainfall in the valley this year which may adversely affect the production of fruits and cereal crops. Due to the dry spell and increasing temperatures, the flowering of almonds and apricots and sprouting of fruit have commenced 40 days ahead of schedule. Attaur Rahman, a senior agriculturist at the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, said the low levels of rainfall would affect the yield of fruit trees and cereal crops as well as the quality of fruit and grain. Mr Rahman, however, added the situation could improve if rains increased in early April.