AFTER introduction of the Green Revolution technology in Pakistan, new horizons in the field of agriculture have been accessed. Intensive and multi-cropping system of agriculture has been the norm of this era. The country has introduced diversified agriculture in terms of cropping pattern and farming systems leading to increased productivity for most of the agricultural commodities.

In the present-day situation, the area-growth is slowing down while the yield-growth will be the mainstay for meeting the future food demand. Experiments show that the problems of stagnating and declining yields are occurring in the rice-wheat system. Soil organic matter is also going down, new weeds, pests, and diseases are creating more problems, and irrigation water is becoming scarce.

Rice-wheat farming system, one of the important cropping systems of Pakistan, covers an area of about 2.1 million hectares. A major portion of about 57 per cent of the area falls in Punjab.

Over the years, rice has been an export item contributing about five to six per cent in overall exports. The performance of wheat has also been satisfactory and it nearly meets the domestic requirements of the people. Typically Kalar belt (Sheikhupura, Gujranwala and Sialkot) is the genuine homeland of ‘Basmati’ rice, a cause of fame for the country.

Rice production has comparative advantage over other Kharif crops in the rice-wheat areas, particularly in Punjab. Farmers are growing rice since centuries and they have continued the tradition despite emerging technical difficulties and socio-economic barriers.

The bulk of the wheat is also produced in the rice-wheat system of Punjab. There exists a high gap between the potential and actual yields received by the farmers for both crops. The main problems are institutional, technical and socio-economic. However, there is scope to increase the productivity with appropriate measures to tackle the problem.

The rice-wheat yields, a part of the Indo-Gangantic plains, have declined over time. The agro-ecosystem is deteriorating, soil fertility is low with insect and weed problem, and water resources are not being identified to meet the irrigation requirements particularly for rice. As a result, the rice-wheat cropping system is at the verge of collapse. Many stakeholders, concerned with the productivity, have launched efforts to overcome the problems.

According to a study, about 70 to 75 per cent farm area is covered by rice and wheat in the areas following this system. The major crop rotation is rice-wheat (about 90 per cent) and sunflower-rice, potato-wheat, potato-sunflower and fodder-fodder as minor crop rotations.

Many justifications can be put forth for declining productivity but non-judicious and improper use of land could be termed as the basic.

The continuous cropping sequence has resulted in low soil fertility. Presently, the FYM is a major option for farmers to deal with the soil health and nutrition but its application is on a limited area. Intervention of short duration green manure crops has the potential to restore the soil fertility.

Similarly, developing schedules to break continuous rotation at proper intervals by different break crops is necessary. Detailed on-farm experimentation on break crops for rice-wheat rotation to restore soil fertility is required.

Improved, certified and properly treated seed is a pre-requisite to achieve the required plant population. The prices of improved seed are higher than the output prices which calls for the provision of tested and certified seed at affordable prices. Rice and wheat seed production in the private sector is limited. Involvement of more companies in the private sector may create competition resulting in low prices.

Weed problem is on the rise as a result of continuous rice-wheat cropping over time. In various agro-ecological zones, specific weeds are related to specific zones. Its intensity increases when uninterrupted sequential cropping systems are followed. Over the years, the rotation has increased the problem leading to increased weed management costs. Generally the manual weeding and crop rotation have been the principal methods to control weeds but the use of herbicide has the potential to control the problem effectively.

Insect, pest and weed control can be achieved through the Integrated Pest Management (IPM). In this regard, the IPM strategies are imperative. A well-planned campaign is necessary to familiarize farmers about the IPM. However, monitoring of pesticides for quality control is required on priority to save the farmers from being deceived. In fact, such rules and laws exist but are not implemented.

Irrigation water shortage is a serious problem. It is acute at the tails of watercourses. Fluctuations in power rates have compelled the farmers to switch from electric to diesel and diesel to electric tube wells that has doubled the cost of investment.

Frequent changes in electricity tariffs, from per unit to flat rate and flat rate to per unit, has created anxiety among the farmers. Farmers prefer electric tube wells to diesels but are afraid of the changing electric tariff policies. Various on-farm agronomic trails for water conservation and increasing water use efficiency for different crops in the rice-wheat areas are necessary to save this scarce resource.

Major challenge is how to transfer the knowledge-based technologies to farmers, especially with weak linkages in the extension systems. This can be accomplished through the promotion of participatory approaches and expanded partnerships of the stakeholders and national and international organizations. All partners are required to work together to solve the Post-Green Revolution system-level problems at specific geographical sites and targeted to different social groups.

Use of mechanical rice-planter and no-tillage technology for wheat cultivation needs proper consideration in the area. At the peak rice transplanting season acute shortage of labour is observed. Increased demand for nursery transplanting forces the labour to complete the fields rapidly at the cost of low plant population as well as delayed transplanting.

To save time, labour and cost, a logical option is to mechanize the transplanting operation that can solve the low-density problem by fixing optimum spacing between the plant hills. Farmers have shown interest in the mechanical transplanter as high plant density and yield increases are directly related. The technology needs perfection requiring attention of the researchers and other stakeholders.

Similarly the no-tillage technology for wheat is useful for timely cultivation of wheat after ‘Basmati’ rice, as it is a late maturing crop leaving less time for wheat. The residual moisture can be exploited through this technique. Wheat planted by no-tillage drill has a uniform stand establishment resulting in augmented yields. The wider use of no-tillage technology in wheat needs to be demonstrated through effective campaign.

A majority of farmers are resource poor and illiterate. All recommendations and suggestions are useless if they don’t have the capacity to follow these. To meet their livelihood they are in search of loans. They rely on loans till the harvest of crops. There is a need for farmers to be provided credit facilities with easy access, less paper work and affordable interest rates.

The product disposal at competitive prices is the most crucial factor. The most problematic part of disposal is the marketing of produce. Farmers’ efforts in production should not be fruitless because of malpractices in marketing activities. The main problems encountered are under-weighing, unfair weight discounts, high commission and delayed payments. Under-pricing is at the peak in bumper production years. It requires proper checks to save the farmers.

It is necessary to follow the recommendations given by experts to save the misuse of farm resources. An integrated effort on the part of the government agencies, policy makers, research organizations and farming community is required for food security and foreign exchange earnings.