SUBSTANTIAL wheat production is crucial for ensuring food security in Pakistan where per capita consumption is 120kg per year - highest in the world.

Though an agrarian society, the country suffers from occasional wheat shortages like the recent one when imports, this time from Russia, was the only option left for the government.

Pakistan is the seventh-largest wheat producer with 2.73 per cent of the world’s production out of 3.57 per cent of the cultivated area. It accounts for 40 per cent of the total cropped area and 70 per cent production comes from the irrigated areas.

Wheat contributes 13.8 per cent to the value-added in agriculture and 3.2 per cent to the GDP. It covers about eight million hectares by producing about 21 million tons. The average yield is 2.5 tons per hectare against three tons worldwide. However, China, India and Egypt reap 3.8, three and six tons, respectively.

The country was self-sufficient only in 1999-00, while rest of the time it made imports to meet the local requirements. Recently about 49,235 tons of wheat has been imported from Russia. Figure

Fluctuations in production are due to delayed harvesting of preceding crops (like sugarcane, cotton and rice), low-quality inputs like seeds and fertilizers, and late sowing. Delay in sugarcane crushing has aggravated this issue for last many years as it extends to February-March due of a tussle between the mills and farmers over price adjustment.

On the other hand, sowing of wheat after November 15, reduces the yield by about one kilogramme per day per acre. Mills should be asked to start cane crushing as earlier as possible to ensure timely sowing of wheat crop. Cane crop should be cultivated in September for obtaining maximum potential of both crops.

In rice growing areas delayed sowing of wheat is attributed to late harvesting of fine rice cultivars. To cope with this situation, selection of early maturing varieties is a good strategy. Like rice and sugarcane crops, delayed picking of cotton also contributes in late sowing of wheat crop.

To mitigate the affects of late picking, farmers should adopt conservation and time saving technologies like zero-tillage. The zero-tillage technology not only saves extra expenditure on seed-bed preparation but also time. The weed problem can be handled by the use of herbicides.

The other limiting factor is the lack of quality inputs. More than 70 per cent farmers use uncertified seed. Those who adulterate seeds should be checked. Fertilizers availability is another factor that needs to be tackled. The private sector’s share in fertilizer marketing is 89 per cent while that of public it is mere 11 per cent. The former commands the supplies in markets with about 8,000 retailers countrywide. It is cartel or monopoly like situation. The poor farmer gets squeezed regardless of the government-fixed rates as the private sector suppliers manipulate the prices through short supplies during peak seasons.

The principles of Integrated Crop Management (ICM) needs to be followed. Generally farmers adopt broadcasting, drill and bed-sowing methods. Recently, carpet wheat sowing has emerged as a resource-saving and high-yielding method. There is no need of costly equipment to sow the crop. All inputs are applied through the broadcast method. Beds are prepared with tractor-drawn ridger. Top of the bed is levelled by hanging planker in such a way that the weight is partly supported by the ridger. This not only allows plant growth in depression of furrows, slanting area and slope of bed but also on the surface of bed. This increases area under plants and total plant count that becomes equal to about a traditional cultivated area of about 1.3 acre due to the increase in the surface area of the field.

It is imperative to use balanced doses of fertilizers. Farmers ignore potash fertilizer application which is unavoidable in present scenarios of intensive cultivation. Similarly, the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) enhances yield potential. Pest losses to different crops account for 40-50 per cent of the total production. Weed problem is severe in wheat crop and reduces the yield by 25-40 per cent. For the last three years, aphid attacks at grain filling stage are being observed. In many areas, the pest attack has damaged the crop by shrinking the grain. After Inqlab 91 no cultivar has won ground therefore, focus should be made on the development of new varieties for meeting the domestic demand and lifting of the import burden.

In 1999-00, the government announced the wheat price and assigned the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (Passco) to buy wheat. The influential sold the product on prescribed prices while the poor became victim. In the previous season, private agencies violated the rule and regulations of the government and bought wheat at higher prices than the government fixed rates and earned millions by smuggling it to Afghanistan, while the government reverted to imports.

The agriculture marketing system should be reshaped on modern lines. The climatic conditions have affected wheat production all over the globe, therefore, biotech approaches should be employed to create new varieties that are heat, drought and salinity tolerant.