Rice crop cultivation targets for Kharif season 2020-21 was fixed at 2, 957 thousand hectares in order to produce about 7.999 million tons to fulfill the domestic requirements as well as for exporting. Rice is among major crops of the country which is use as staple food, where as it also contributes in national exports significantly, said an official in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research. Talking to APP here on Monday, he said that rice cultivation target for Punjab Province during current season was set at 1,900 thousand hectares for producing about 4.200 million tons of the commodity. He said that average per- hectare crop out put in the country was fixed at 2,702 kg, adding that in order to set marks, the government would ensure availability of all inputs including high yielding certified seeds, pesticides and equipping the growers with best management practices. Meanwhile, rice crop cultivation targets for Sindh were set at 800 thousands hectares with production of 3.00 million tons, he added.{ The average per- hectare rice output in Sindh was fixed at 3,750 kg, he said adding that in Punjab it was fixed at 2,211 kg per-hectare. During Kharif season 2020-21, about 67 thousand hectares would be put under rice cultivation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to get about 0.190 thousand tons of rice, he added. Per-hectare output during the season under review in the province of fixed at 2,836 kg, he added. In order to exploit the agriculture potential of Baluchistan Province as well as enhancing the farm income of small scale growers, rice crop would be grown over 67 thousand hectares in order to produce about 0. 600 million tons of the commodity, he added.