Japanese rice variety: 'Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Swat, Kaghan most suitable areas for sowing'

Areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, such as Swat, Kaghan and Dir, are the most suitable for sowing of Japanese rice variety 'Japonica' and getting a good yield due to cool climate as compared to Sindh and Punjab province.
This was observed by the agricultural scientists at a meeting arranged by the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (Reap) here Tuesday to review the results of trial sowing of 'Japonica' in Pakistan and its possible export to other countries.
The meeting was chaired by Reap Chairman, Javed Islam Agha, Vice Chairman Safdar Hussein, Shahzad Ali Malik, Tariq Aziz and others. While a Japanese expert also threw light on Japonica Rice Project in Pakistan. Scientists from Rice Research Institute, Kala Shah Kaku and National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE) Faisalabad shared the initial results of sowing of Japanese rice in different areas of the Punjab province and resulted per acre yield.
National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE) Principle Scientist, Dr Muhammad Arif while throwing light on the project 'Adaptability trials of transplanted Oryza Sativa Var-Japonica in Pakistan' told the audience that plantation was made at three locations and it was observed that Kernels are short, bold and have chalky nature. No lodging was observed due to short stature of plants, no visual symptoms of nutrient deficiency were observed during whole growth season and no disease was recorded in all three trials.
He said that plants flowered early and showed indeterminate type of growth at all three locations probably due to hoft environment. He suggested that production technology may be revised to optimise plant nutrient requirements and experiments of different planting dates are suggested to better understand its growth pattern under Pakistani environmental condition.
Rice Research Institute (RRI) Director, Dr Saleem Akhtar in his presentation entitled 'cultivation of Japonica rice in Pakistan' also proposed that trials for different dates of transplanting should be conducted to evaluate the optimum time of transplanting, trials regarding the age of nursery should be carried out to tiller Japonica rice at maximum and also suggested fertiliser trials to evaluate the optimum fertiliser dose.
Guard Agriculture Research, Shabbir Khan also threw light the results derived by their institution by sowing Japonica rice in Lahore through two sowing techniques. He said that results show that the yield is slightly better in direct seeding sowing technology instead of transplantation technology.
All the scientists were unanimous in their opinion that Japonica rice variety can give better results in a cooler environment and areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are more suitable for its production. They also suggested another round of trials before going in to large scale sowing of this variety.
Japanese expert Hiro Takahashi also spoke about the project of Japonica rice in Pakistan and said that they would take the samples of trial production of this variety for lab testing for its taste and nutritional value and then would submit the report to Japanese ambassador in a meeting scheduled on October 27, 2011.
The meeting was informed by a participant that Japanese International Co-operation Agency (Jica) has also agreed to help Pakistan in sowing of Japonica variety of rice. Scientists from Japan would visit Pakistan to help Pakistani scientists for developing a mechanism for getting per acre yield of the variety in local environmental conditions.
Reap Chairman, Javed Islam Agha speaking on this occasion said successful sowing of Japonica rice would open a new market for Pakistani rice exporters in shape of Japan and other Asian countries. He said it would help earning precious foreign exchange for the country and contribute in strengthening the national economy.