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Parc chief for govt

intervention in

major crops

ISLAMABAD: Chairman of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (Parc), Dr. Kauser Abdullah Malik has stressed the need for government intervention in all the major crops to protect the interest of growers and to stabilise the prices of commodities.

Talking to APP, he said that the government should fix the support price of the commodity for next few years. It would protect the growers, increase the production of agriculture and stabilise the prices of the market, he added.

He said that last year, the cotton growers suffered a loss of millions of rupees due to free trade of cotton. The government is likely to announce support price of cotton to encourage the growers for next Kharif crop, he informed.

The credit facilities for the growers should be increased for all the crops with minimum mark-up and process be transparent and simple, he added.

Talking about agriculture research, Kauser said that paucity of funds and lack of coordination are the main reasons to convey the finding of agriculture research to the farmer.

He pointed out that there are 2,000 agriculture scientist in the country and could not reach in every part of the country to the farmers.

He said that provincial agriculture extension department should coordinate with the research institutions to deliver their findings to the growers. He also said that government should allocate reasonable amount in this regard otherwise there is no utilisation of research.

He said that the Parc has requested the government to allow it for setting up of "endowment fund" for agriculture research with US scientists.

Giving the background of the fund, he said that the US had donated wheat of 200,000 tonnes some couple of years ago and asked that the selling amount of the wheat would be spent on agriculture research.

He said that an agreement was also signed during the previous government with Pakistan and United States in this regard, but the finance division has not transferred the amount to Parc for research. Now the Secretary General for Finance has assured that the mark-up of the total amount would be given to Parc for research, he added.

To a question about increase in the per acreage production of wheat, he said that the country has vast potential of agriculture field and per acreage production be increased by using modern technology, in time sowing, availability of inputs and certified seeds.

He pointed out that there is 60 percent of late wheat sowing in the country. Due to this reason the yield of wheat has come down by 20 percent, he added and said the late sowing causes a loss of 40 kg of wheat per day.

He said that the Parc has introduced a 'zero tilllage' technology and more than 11,000 acres have been cultivated under it. The production of wheat of the area would be higher than other areas, he hoped.

He said that the scope of 'zero tillage' will be increased and maximum area would be cultivated under it next year.

To a question about rice plantation, he said that the Parc has introduced a 'rice mechanical transplantation' and Heavy Mechanical Complex has been asked to manufacture it.

By 'rice mechanical transplantation,' more than 100,000 saplings per acres be transplanted against 45,000 per acres by manual plantation.ÑAPP