Farmers advised to insulate crops against frost

The Met Office has asked the farmers of upcountry to step up protection to their crops against frost aswinter temperature was dropping.It said that the frost was more likely to cover the land in clear nights in the next 10 days. It said that night temperature was expected to drop slightly by1-2 degrees Celsius in most of the agricultural plains, especially upcountry.Trees have begun falling off their leaves that may affect standing crops like wheat and other Rabi productions, the office asked the farmers to start collecting the foliage at the earliest for better harvests. It warned the farmers of a yield loss if weeds continued to grow in the standing crop to eat up soil moisture and fertilisers.It said that weeds thrived on fertiliser and moisture that were primarily for crops growth, suggesting that unwanted plants could be removed manually and by using weedicides. Weeds cause a considerable yield loss every year, it said.Normal wind pattern may prevail in most of the agricultural plains in the country, it said, adding that mainly cold and dry weather was expected in Punjab with light to moderate rainfall and snowfall over hills on January 4 and 5 in upper parts of the province.In Sindh, weather is likely to remain dry. Weather in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is likely to be mainly cold and dry with rainfall and light snowfall over hills till January 5 over upper mountainous areas of the province.Mainly cold and dry weather is expected in Balochistan with light to moderate rainfall and snowfall over hills on January 4.In Gilgit-Baltistan, mainly cold and cloudy weather is expected in most parts of the province with light to moderate rainfall and light snowfall over the hills till January 5. Mainly cold and dry weather is expected in most parts of Kashmir with partly cloudy weather conditions and light to moderate rainfall and light snowfall over hills till January 5.News SourceNews Collated byPAKISSAN.com