After successfully launching eight hybrid rice varieties and revolutionizing the coarse rice production in Sindh, Guard Agriculture Research & Services Limited (GUARD) is hopeful to launch 'Hybrid Wheat' for commercial sowing in the year 2021-22.
'We have collaborated with the Beijing Academy of Agricultural Sciences to produce a hybrid wheat seed which could ensure more per acre yield and prosperity to the growers. It is hoped that we will be launching this seed with double the yield potential than the existing varieties in two years,' said Guard Chief Executive Shahzad Ali Malik while talking to Business Recorder here on Friday.
Shahzad said that his organization which was set up in 1989 is busy in research to produce hybrid seeds for rice (coarse/basmati), maize, wheat, vegetables and oilseed crops to fetch more per acre yield thus producing more surplus and bringing prosperity to the farmers. He said that their company in collaboration with the Yuan Long-Ping High Tech Industries is working with a vision to introduce innovation in seed industry & variety development aimed at poverty alleviation and prosperity of farmers by higher yield due to better seed.
Shahzad's services to introduce hybrid rice in Pakistan were also acknowledged by the Government by conferring Sitara-i-Imtiaz on him in the year 2013. He said encouraged from success in the rice sector, Guard signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Beijing Academy of Agricultural Sciences in the year 2014 and since then experimenting to develop hybrid seed at eight locations in Punjab and five locations in Sindh.
In Punjab, these field trials are being conducted in Depalpur, Okara, Sahiwal, Lahore, Manga Mandi, Gujranwala (two points) and Sialkot. While in Sindh, seeds are being sent from Punjab and field trials are being held in Hala, Kotri, Shehdadpur, Tando Muhammad Khan and Matli.
Till date, we have recorded a 46 per cent yield increase in seeds produced during these experiments and we are aiming to have a seed with double the yield as compared to existing varieties of wheat. We are aiming to revolutionize this sector of agriculture just like the introduction of hybrid rice varieties have done for the paddy growers, Shahzad Malik concluded.