Use of better seed varieties stressed to bring a ‘green revolution’

LAHORE: Pakistan needs to formulate an agricultural policy through consultation of all stakeholders such as academia, industry and farmers while approval of new varieties of seeds should be assigned to an expert panel from different universities, which will help bring about a revolution in this sector within the next three years.

“It is strange that public sector breeders have been assigned the duty to approve or disapprove new varieties by the private sector. It makes both competitors of each other and the public sector creates hurdles in the way of private companies so their own performance should not be questioned. If the government is, itself, selling seed then how can they let the private sector flourish,” questioned Jawed Saleem Qureshi, former Chairman of Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) and chairman of a leading industrial group Four Brothers dealing in seed, pesticides and other agricultural inputs.

He was speaking at a discussion arranged by the Agricultural Journalists Association (AJA) here on Saturday. FPCCI Regional Chairman and CEO Four Brothers Nadeem Qureshi also participated in the discussion.

Jawed Qureshi said Pakistan currently is lagging behind in per acre yield in all the major and minor crops from the rest of the world because of not having indigenous seeds compatible with our climate and weather patterns. He claimed that a staple length of 27.5 mm is considered super cotton in four leading cotton-producing countries including India, China, US and Australia but in Pakistan, a seed having a lower than 28 mm staple length is not approved at all.

He proposed that a committee comprising agriculturists and scientists from different agricultural universities should be formulated should approve the new varieties. He said that the seed sector had even proposed that parameters set by leading crop producers should be introduced in Pakistan to approve the new varieties.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022