ISLAMABAD: The Variety Evaluation Committee of Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) has recommended 10 new high-yielding genotypes of oilseed crops and two of sugarcane for commercial cultivation in the country.

Among the new varieties, four are sunflower hybrid, three mustard highbred varieties and one variety of each soybean, rapeseed, and groundnut while two varieties of sugarcane for commercial cultivation in the potential ecologies.

In the meantime, a meeting at the ministry of national food security and research was informed on Tuesday that at present there is a large gap of 66 per cent between the supply and demand of certified seeds in the country.

“We should also develop a national seed policy, strategy and a plan for implementation to get long-term positive results with consensus, and the public-private dialogues are necessary to optimise the seed supply system,” said Minister for National Food Security Dr Kausar Abdullah Malik while chairing the meeting.

The meeting discussed the seed system of the country and reviewed challenges faced by the sector and its future prospects.

The Seed Amendment Act, 2015, liberalised the seed sector which resulted in mushroom growth of domestic private seed companies. The extensive consultation was carried out to streamline the seed sector by using advanced genomic technologies as well as of information technology system for transparency.

Participating in the meeting, the country head of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) for Pakistan presented salient features of a report titled, ‘National Seed Sector: Prospects and Challenges’.

The report observed that the regulatory system in Pakistan is improving but due to weak enforcement it is unable to attract foreign companies in the seed sector. Moreover, the national breeders’ intellectual property right is being pirated, it points out.

The meeting also discussed the issues related to biotech seeds and resolved to settle this in compliance with national and international rules.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Kausar Malik said the government is committed to uplifting the agro-based industry in the country as the solution of all our economic woes lies in the development of the agriculture sector. He further said that there was a need for a uniform regulatory regime across all crop varieties to encourage and improve seed system in the country.

It has been observed that poor seed quality and widespread sale of unapproved varieties are resulting in low yield, he said.

At PARC, the evaluation committee meeting on oilseed and sugar crops was chaired by VEC Chairman Dr Imtiaz Hussain.

During the meeting, 21 proposals for soybean, canola, rapeseed, mustard, sunflower, groundnut, and sesame candidate varieties/hybrids as well as four proposals for sugarcane were assessed.

After thorough evaluation and discussion, the committee recommended four new sunflower hybrids, three mustard varieties/hybrids, one variety each of soybean, rapeseed and groundnut while two varieties of sugarcane for potential ecologies.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2023