REGIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
M.S. Cheema and M. Hussain.
Prospects of wheat production in Pakistan.
Wheat is a staple food crop of Pakistan, dominating all crops in acreage and production. Wheat accounts for 37.1 % of the crop area, 65 % of the food grain acreage, and 70 % of the production. Mainly grown under irrigated conditions, wheats water requirements range from 20-21 in/acre. The Indus Plains with their favorable topography, rich soil, and good agricultural facilities have a much greater acreage planted to wheat.
In Pakistan, spring wheat is grown as a Rabi crop in the Sindh, Punjab, NWFP, and Balochistan provinces. In the northern parts of Balochistan, some winter wheat is cultivated on a small scale. The wheat-growing area was 8.371 million hectares and production was 18.90 million tons in 1997-80. The major production area is in Punjab (71.17 %), followed by the Sindh province (13.38 %). However, the yield per acre is slightly higher in Sindh (2,410 kg) as compared to Punjab (2,316 kg).
In Punjab, wheat is mostly grown on irrigated land. Wheat production from rainfed areas is about 10 %. However, weather causes year-to-year fluctuations in crop production. Good rainfall means a good wheat crop. For example, 199798 had good rainfall, and the production increase in wheat was 48 % in rainfed areas compared with the previous year, whereas increased production in the irrigated areas was only 8.5 %. The production target of wheat for Punjab province for 1998-99 is 16.37 millon tons. To achieve this target, an 18.6 % increase in the present wheat production is required. The target production area is 6,026,500 hectares. The government of the Punjab has provided loans to small farmers; removed the customs duties or sales taxes on combines, harvesters, and other agricultural implements; reduced tractor prices; and increased subsudies to 5,000 small farmers to increase prodution. Additionally, 12.5 acres of land is being distributed to nonlandowning growers . Strict rules against pesticide and fertilizer use and an increase in the support price of wheat are under consideration.
In the Sindh province, wheat is grown mostly on irrigated land. The small portion of unirrigated wheat depends on the retreat of the Indus river flood waters. The provincal government has set a target of 1,103,600 hectares as the production area for the 1998-99 wheat crop. Production has been set at 2,600,000 metric tons, a decrease of 600,000 metric tons.
In southern Sindh, the best times for planting are from 1-20 November for early varieties and 21 November-15 December for late varieties. In northern Sindh, early planting is from 10-30 November and late planting from 20 November-20 December. Some indications that the lower production target may not be acheived in 1998-99 are late sowing, shortages of phosphate fertilizer at sowing time, changes winter climate, delays in cane crushing season, delays in launching of loan disbursements by the ADBP, shortages of certified seed, stagnant support prices, and water shortages. Late monsoons also caused a delay in planting, because the harvest of the cotton crop was delayed. About 40 % of the wheat crop is sown after cotton.
Despite rigorous efforts and incentives from the government,
Pakistan will still fall short of attaining self sufficiency in
wheat. Pakistan imports about 2 million tons of wheat at a cost
of 8 billion rupees.
Wheat cultivars released for general cultivation in the Punjab province of Pakistan during 1997.
Kohistan 97 wheat was approved for rainfed areas of the Punjab province in 1997. The pedigree of Kohistan 97 is 'V 1562 // CHRC 'S' / HORK 'S' /3/ KUFRA-I /4/ CARP 'S' / BJY 'S' (Pb 24883-B-1A-OA). This cultivar was tested in rainfed areas in different trials for 5 years and produced 18.29 and 19.00 % greater yields than the standard checks Chackwal 86 and Rawal 87, respectively. Kohistan 97 also was tested under natural and inoculated leaf rust infection and was resistant to the prevailing races in both cases. The cultivar has major genes Lr13 and Lr26 plus unidentified minor genes.
Chakwal 97 was approved by the Punjab Seed Council in 1997 and was developed for the rainfed areas of Punjab. The cultivar was developed at the Barani Agricultural Research Institute at Chakwal. Chakwal 97 is a selection from the CIMMYT International Bread Wheat Screening Nursery and has the parentage 'BUC 'S' / FCT 'S' (CM 64663-7M-0Y-0M~7Y-0M). The cultivar is resistant to leaf and yellow rusts. The yield of Chakwal 97 in the National Uniform Yield Trial 199596 was 8.90 % greater than that of the check Rawal 87.
M.H. 97 was recommended in 1997 for normal and late planting in irrigated areas of the Punjab province. M.H. 97 was selected from the Warmer Areas Wheat Screening Nursery with the name Attilla (Pedigree: ND / VG 9144 // KAL / BB /3/ YACO /4/ VEE #5; CM 85836-50Y-3M-0Y). After 7 years in different trials throughout Pakistan, M.H. 97 produced 5.91 % higher yields than the check Inqlab 91. M.H. 97 was tested throughout Pakistan for resistance to leaf and yellow rusts and has Lr13 and Yr6. Some minor resistance genes also are present. The interaction of these major and minor genes may provide durable disease resistance.
Bhawalpur 97 was approved by the provincial Seed Conncil for irrigated areas in the southern Punjab. The origin of the cultivar was from the CIMMYT wheat line CM 47634-I-2M-2Y-1M-0Y with the pedigree 'ORE F1 158 / FDL // KAL / B8J3 /NAC'. Bhawalpur 97 was tested throughut Pakistan and produced 6.46 % more yield than the check Punjab 85. Lr13 and some unidentified minor genes make Bhawalpur 97 moderately resistant to leaf and yellow rusts. The cultivar has a higher protein content (13.07 %) than the check cultivars Faisalabad 85 (12.90 %) and Inqlab 91 (10.51 %).
Derawar 97 was recommended for general cultivation in the late-sown area of the Punjab province during 1997. Derawar 97 is the rusult of a cross developed at the Regional Agricultural Research Institute at Bahawalpur (Sasonokamwgi / Norin // BOW 'S'; Pb 18551-2B-1B-2B-1B-0B). The cultivar was tested throughout the country in the National Uniform Wheat Yield Trials and produced a yield 9.5 % higher than the check Faisalbad 85. Derawar 97 is moderately resistant to leaf rust.