Chairman Sub Committee on Rice of Provincial Seed Committee Shahzad Ali Malik Sunday urged the government to provide special incentives for the seed breeding sector to ensure provision of high yielding quality hybrid seeds of all major and minor crops in the country to enhance per-acre crop output to attain self- sufficiency in food production.
The seed breeders are playing a vital role in agriculture by evolving disease-free high-yield diversified range of new seeds, he added.
Talking to a delegation of seed breeders led by Momin Ali he urged the government to provide breeders ‘select and breed plants’ with desirable qualities such as higher yields, disease resistance, drought tolerance, nutritional value, and other characteristics that benefit farmers.
He said breeders work dedicatedly on developing new plant varieties or improving existing ones and conduct extensive research and selection to create plants with improved traits, such as adaptability to specific climates or soil conditions, and enhanced nutritional content.
He said that leads to the availability of a diverse range of crop varieties, offering farmers options that suit their specific needs and preferences.
Through their breeding efforts, breeders aim to enhance crop productivity as improved productivity is crucial for meeting the growing demand for food, especially as the country’s population continues to increase, he added.
He said breeders play a critical role in developing varieties that can thrive under changing environmental conditions, such as increased temperatures, drought, or salinity.
He said unfortunately since the creation of Pakistan seed breeders have yet been ignored and no package of incentives offered to encourage them for help invention of new best seed varieties.
He said it’s takes at least 11 years of continuous research for developing new varieties with repeated experiments.—APP
