Scientists at the Agricultural Research Institute Tarnab (ARIT) in Peshawar have developed three new wheat varieties promising enhanced climate resilience and a threefold increase in per acre yield, offering a breakthrough for farmers facing climate challenges.

Climate-resilient crops are part of sustainable agriculture practices, which aim to meet current food needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own.

The researchers have also developed a new wheat seed variant suitable for rain-fed farming.

A report from ARIT, a copy of which was shared with the Dawn.com, showed that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s wheat production was below par. It currently produces only 1.4 million tonnes of wheat while its annual consumption stands at 5m tonnes.

Moreover, farming is heavily dependent on rain, with nearly 51 per cent of the land contigent of rainfall, it showed.

Akhtar Ali, a senior agricultural scientist at the institute who was familiar with the work, told Dawn.com that climate change had critically impacted farming in the province over the last five years.

“Changes and delay in the rain patterns, including a delay in time intervals amongst seasons, has created new challenges and hardships for agriculture sector,” he said.

Ali said that the yield from the existing varieties of the seeds had dramatically decreased in the province due to climate change, adding that the institute had been working to develop new seeds over the past few years, which would be suitable for production in the current climate.

“After long experiments, we have introduced two types of seeds: one each for canal irrigated and rain fed lands,” Ali said, adding that the seeds meant for canal irrigated lands has potential to produce three times more yield per acre to existing ones.

Altaf Khan, another ARIT researcher, told Dawn.com that a sharp increase in production was a “difficult task to achieve”, mainly because of climate change and farmers still practicing outdated and conventional methods of farmers.

He said that it was time for the farmers to adopt scientific methods of farming. “The new seeds will only achieve the production goals when modern farming techniques are used,” he said.

The institute’s report further showed that wheat’s production and farming area had remained almost static in KP for nine years.

From 2015 to 2016, wheat comprised just 0.753 million hectares of the total area, while in 2022-2023, wheat comprised 0.770 million hectares. Meanwhile, wheat production had also been negligible, with it ranging from 1.247 to 1.47 million tonnes over the course of nine years — with farmers across KP complaining about the the crop dissappointing them last year.

Farmers voice concern

While speaking to Dawn.com, Marwan Khan 35, a farmer from Charsadda district, said that the farmers struggled to meet the cost of wheat last year.

He noted that in 2023, he got a market rate of over Rs6,000 for 50 kg of wheat, highlighting that the fear of instability in the wheat market price compelled him to reduce the area for the crop by 20pc.

Ashfaq Ahmed, another farmer told Dawn.com, that conventional farming was not as efficient as it was two decades ago, and that they needed to use more fertilisers and pesticides today to meet their needs.

He said the prices of fertilisers, pesticides and seeds had quadrupled, which added to their worries.

Innovation and support

The recent research and development work regarding the new variety of seeds are to meet the evolving needs of farmers in KP, which, in turn, also emphasises the role of the government to provide cost-effective seeds, fertilisers and pesticides to the farmers — in addition to raising awareness of the impact of climate change on agriculture so that farmers can adapt faster to the changing landscape.