Dr Muhammad Rashid, Director General Agricultural (Research) asked agricultural scientists to develop new technology to increase water-use efficiency. He stated this while addressing a seminar on Research Activities and the Achievements of the Agronomic Research Institute, Faisalabad. He said that water was the most precious resource, so it should be used efficiently and economically.
Abdul Sattar Director Agronomic Research Institute Faisalabad revealed that agriculture production could be increased by up to 60 percent, by filling the gap between potential yield and the yield realised by using better crops and soil-management practices. Highlighting the constraints of low yield, the speaker said that late planting, conventional sowing methods and low plant density were some of the main causes of low agricultural yield in the country.
Dr Liaquat Ali, Assistant Research Officer, stressed the need for developing new planting techniques to save water. Hafiz Muhammad Nasrullah, Assistant Agronomist stated that production of maize could be increased with new planting techniques. Muhammad Kashif Munir, Assistant Research officer said that rice production needed to be increased with new management practices. Dr Noor Ahmad, Assistant Agronomist, highlighted the importance of increasing the production of medicinal plants.
Dr Noor Muhammad Mujahid, Assistant Research Officer stated that chemical weed control needed to be adopted for increasing chickpea production in irrigated areas. According to the speakers' briefing, during the current fiscal year (2008-09), the availability of water for Kharif 2008 (for crops such as rice, sugarcane and cotton) had been 0.3 percent less than normal supplies and 5.5 percent less than last year's Kharif.
Water availability during the Rabi season (for major crops such as wheat), was, however, estimated at 24.9 MAF, which was 31.6 percent less than the normal availability, and 10.7 percent less than last year's Rabi.
Commenting on the Crop Situation, the speakers stated that there ware two principal crop seasons in Pakistan, namely the "Kharif", the sowing season of which, begins in April-June and the harvesting during October-December; and the "Rabi", which begins in October-December and ends in April-May.
Rice, sugarcane, cotton, maize, mong, mash, bajra and jowar are "Kharif" crops, while wheat, gram, lentil (masoor), tobacco, rapeseed, barley and mustard are "Rabi" crops. Major crops, such as, wheat, rice, cotton and sugarcane account for 89.1 percent of the value added in the major crops. The value added in the major crops account for 33.4 percent of the value added in overall agriculture.
Thus, the four major crops (wheat, rice, cotton, and sugarcane), on average, contribute 29.8 percent to the value added in overall agriculture and 6.5 percent to the GDP. The minor crops account for 12.0 percent of the value added in overall agriculture. Livestock contributes 51.8 percent to agricultural value added, - much more than the combined contribution of major and minor crops (45.4%).