No nation can have strong foundation and economic prosperity without achieving self-sufficiency in agriculture production, said Dr Badruddin Soomro, chairman, Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) here on Saturday.
Inaugurating a three-day meeting of Regional Steering Committee (RCS) and Regional Technical Co-ordination Committee (RTCC), Dr Badruddin Soomro said: "In a new millennium only nations will survive which have strong foundations, and basis of economic prosperity particularly, agriculture is the most important sector, which must ensure self-sufficiency in wheat and rice crops which not only provide food to us, but also fulfil all needs of our daily life."
He said the Indo Gangetic plains that extend from Pakistan to India, Nepal and Bangladesh, have unique agro-ecology for the production of rice and wheat crops over an area of 13.3 million hectares.
He said agriculture research of these founding member countries in collaboration with international centres like Cimmyt and Irri have contributed a lot towards sustaining productivity of rice-wheat system through the introduction of high yielding varieties and better use of fertilisers and pesticides.
"Even then the per hectare yield at the farm level is much lower than the yield of other developed countries, he said, adding, there are several constraints to low productivity, but the major one is the late sowing of wheat in the paddy fields", added Soomro.
The PARC chairman said he was pleased to know that rice-wheat consortium of Indo-Gangetic plains in collaboration with the scientists of NARS and ICs is striving to introduce the resources conserving technology in the region.
He said: "Among these zero tillage technology, bed planting of wheat, parachute planting of rice, and residue management are finding favour among the farming community in this sub-continent."
With the use of adoption these technologies the productivity of rice-wheat system has not only improved, but helped reduce poverty and environmental pollution, he added.
He said international centres like Cimmyt and Irri have done very excellent job in feeding the overgrowing population of the world.
Dr Soomro said Pakistan has been a strong partner of these two international centres since 60s, and we got tremendous benefits during that at this stage the direct collaboration of agricultural research institutes of Pakistan with Cimmyt and Irri is at a low level.
He expressed the hope that proceedings of this meeting will go a long way to help the prosperity of livelihood of 14 million people of Pakistan and the people of Third World countries in general.
The farmers are keen to pick up the most appropriate and resource conserving technology because they are the backbone of economy so that efforts will be made to implement meeting's recommendations.
The objective of the meeting is to provide inputs on the impact of specific technologies, constraints in upscaling, significant research programmes that have been initiated in the member countries that are finding favour with the RW-farmers of the region.
This meeting will be followed by a field visit from February 10-11 to see the mechanical wheat activities i.e. fields of bed planting and zero tillage in districts of Lahore and Sheikhpura.
Three rice-wheat consortium was established in 1994 as an ECO-Regional Initiative of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
It involves National Agricultural Research Systems of four-member countries, including Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh and the International Agricultural Research Centres and advanced Research Centers Organisations like Irri, the Philippines, Cimmyt, Mexico and IWMI.
It strives for forming a network between national and international agricultural institutions to address the issues of productivity enhancement of rice and wheat in sustainable fashion.