FAISALABAD:Ayub Agricultural Research Institute (AARI) Wheat Department Chief Scientist Dr Javaid Ahmad said that research on wheat should be advanced on the pattern of developed countries to attain the goal of food security.
Addressing a training workshop of master trainers at AARI here on Tuesday, he said that it was need of the hour to take advantage of latest research methods adopted by the developed countries of the world so that food requirements of burgeoning population in developing countries like Pakistan could be catered.
He said that agri scientists should concentrate on latest research modules in addition to taking advantage of expertise of each other for speeding up research pace so that per acre yield of wheat crop could be increased according to ratio of increasing population.
Chief Scientist Durum Wheat Muhammad Riaz said that small farmers preferred to use domestic seed only due to their lethargic attitude which caused hampering producing increase.
He said that wheat was a profitable crop and the agri scientists also introduced latest technology as well as new wheat varieties to increase per acre yield. If the growers adopt new techniques along with certified seeds, they could obtain wheat production to manifold.
Chief Scientist Dr Aziz-ur-Rehman said that more than 300 tons seed of new wheat varieties was distributed among the farmers last year which playing a pivotal role in getting bumper yield in Punjab.
The teams of agriculture department were active in the field and the farmers should contact them immediately for getting guidance, help and necessary training regarding cultivation of next wheat crops so that they could get maximum production, he added.
Dr Abid Niaz Principal Scientist Department of Fertilizers highlighted the importance of balanced fertilizers and said that on one hand the fertilizers played a pivotal role in increasing agri productivities but on the other hand, these could hamper the yield if these were used excessively without soil analysis.
Agri scientist Dr. Mohammad Ijaz Tabasim said that wheat crop was imperative for national food security. He said that Punjab sharing about 75 percent of total wheat production in the country,therefore, the farmers training workshops were arranged to apprise the farmers about rapid changes in the climate so that they could complete their wheat cultivation from November 20 to December 10 under recommendation of agri scientists for getting maximum production.
Dr. Hammad Tanveer, Dr. Muhammad Sarwar, Muhammad Mustafa and Dr. Muhammad Nadeem highlighting various issues of wheat cultivation said that newly approved wheat varieties including Urooj-2022, Dilkash-2021, Akbar-2019, Ujala and Galaxy should be used as these varieties were not only certified but they had ample resistance against various diseases and climatic changes.
The farmers should also give priority to use 50 kilograms seed if they wanted to cultivate wheat crop up to November 20 and if they wanted to complete wheat sowing up to December 10, they should use 60 kg graded seed.
Under National Plan to Increase Agri Production, the agriculture department would provide seed of approved varieties to the farmers on subsidized rates in addition to offering subsidy on herbicides and modern agricultural machinery, they added.
Dr. Asif Ali Deputy Director Research Information Unit Faisalabad, Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Niazi Deputy Director of Agriculture (Extension) Khanewal District, Muhammad Owais and others were also present on the occasion.