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NATIONAL COORDINATED OIL SEED  PROGRAMME

NARC, Islamabad

 

INTRODUCTION 

The oil crops of Pakistan are many. Most of these are cultivated on small acreage. Rapeseed-mustard, sesame, linseed and castor are grown in this region since immemorial and are called traditional crops. Sunflower, soybean, safflower are called non-traditional. In addition, three oil bearing trees also maintain their presence in some agro-ecological niches. Coconut and oil palm are the latest entries to this group.

 

One of the challenges be setting the economy of Pakistan is the edible oil deficit. Its indigenous production is below the consumption levels with a very wide gap between production and consumption. This gap is bridged through import of edible oil worth more than Rs. 45.0 billion annually. Presently the oilseed production only met about 25% of the requirements. After cotton which contributes more than 60% of the domestic production, rapeseed-mustard is the second important crop contributing more than 17% to domestic oilseed production.

Domestic edible oil production from all sources has grown at the rate of 2.56% annually over the last about three decades, whereas consumption is increasing at an annual rate of 7.7%. The indigenous edible oil production could not match the growing demand of population. The graph of population and urbanization could not match the rising, outstretching the divergence between demand and domestic production. The rapid expansion of domestic oilseed production has been the major concern for decision makers because of mounting import bill.

 

PROJECT ACTIVITIES 

Sunflower (Helianthus Annuus)

Rapeseed - Mustard (Brassica Species)

Groundnut (Arachis Hhypogea)

Safflower (Catharanthus Tinctorious)

Sesame (Sesamum Indicum)

Linseed 

Castor (Ricinus Communis)

Soybean (Glycine Max)

 

EDIBLE OIL AVAILABILITY IN THE COUNTRY
Domestic production of edible oil has been fluctuating for the last couple of decades. These fluctuations are due to indigenous marketing, low support price and high cost of production which is making these crops non-profitable to the farmers. Only sunflower has shown some positive results in area and production compared to other oil crops.

 

In domestic production, major share comes from cottonseed contributing 75% of local production. Rapeseed, mustard and canola contribute 15%, whereas sunflower, soybean, safflower and corn contribute the remaining 10%. Domestic production of edible oil during 1991-92 was 0.486 million tons which substantially increased to 0.646 million tons during 2000-2001 due to canola and sunflower plantation on a considerable area. Sunflower and canola are the two potential crops, which can fulfill some requirements of edible oil in the country. A comparison of the domestic production, import of edible oil and cost of import is given below:

 

Domestic production, import and value of edible oil

Year

Domestic Production

(000 tons)

Import

(000 tons)

Value of import

(Rs. Billion)

1999-00

607

1091

21.4

2000-01

642

1149

19.04

2001-02

646

1197

24.03

2002-03

665

1281

39.29

2003-04

678

1361

37.91

2004-05

842

1605

44.98

Source: Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan

 

CONTROL OF WEEDS IN DIFFERENT OILSEED CROPS

Use of Different Pre and Post-emergence Herbicides
The use of herbicides, both in pre. and post-emergence application manner, has been gaining popularity due to a number of reasons in the recent years. With time and changing cropping patterns, different brands of herbicides are introduced and used for the control of weeds in different crop commodities. In our present investigation, experiments are being conducted to control weeds by using different new brands of herbicides and optimizing its concentrations. The following s investigations were done in oilseed crops.

OTHER EVENTS

Traveling Seminars

To assess the performance of different oilseed crops, the traveling seminars to the oilseed growing areas has become a regular feature of the program. For this purpose, traveling seminars are being arranged on different oilseed crops during its growing period. The objectives of seminars are:

Sunflower Traveling Seminar (Phase-I) in Sindh
A sunflower traveling seminar (Phase-I) was conducted from 7th April, 2008 to 11th April, 2008 to visit the sunflower crop in areas of Sindh Province including Badin, Matli, Tando Allahyar, Golarchi, Jamshoro, Dadu, Nawab Shah and Sakrand. A group of about 20 scientists from NARC, FSC&RD, ARI Tandojam, PODB and multinational seed companies including ICI Pvt. Ltd., Syngenta and Pioneer participated in this seminar. The area under sunflower crop is increasing and overall crop condition was encouraging. Small farmers are getting seed yield of about 12-15 maunds/acre whereas the progressive farmers are taking high yield ranging 22-25 maunds/acre.


Sunflower Traveling Seminar (Phase-II) in Punjab and NWFP
A sunflower traveling seminar (Phase-II) is being scheduled from 12th May, 2008 to 17th May, 2008 to visit sunflower crop in the areas of the Punjab and NWFP Provinces including DI Khan, Muzaffargarh, Multan, Bahawalpur, Sahiwal and Faisalabad. Scientists and experts from federal and provincial research institutes and multinational seed companies will participate in this activity. The team will mainly focus on the performance of hybrids planted under NUYT and also hybrids planted on farmers' field.

 

Oilseed Annual Review and Planning Meeting 2008
A two days "Annual Review and Research Planning Meeting" of Oilseeds Research Program was held at NARC Islamabad from March 26-27, 2008. More than 60 scientists and other stakeholders from Federal and Provincial Research Institutes, PODB, FSC&RD, Agriculture Foundation of Pakistan, Seed Companies Association of Pakistan (SCAP), Agricultural Universities and farmers, participated in this meeting. The meeting had four technical sessions in addition to inaugural and concluding sessions. A total of 18 presentations were made and scientists of Oilseed Cooperative Units presented their research achievements and future plans, besides other key lectures on topics related to oilseed sub-sector.

The meeting was inaugurated by Dr. Iftikhar Ahmed, Member Plant Sciences, PARC. In his inaugural address the chief guest emphasized the need to improve the productivity of oilseeds in the country. He also emphasized to make the National Coordinated Research Program more successful in order to pave the way for self sufficiency in oilseed sector. He further stressed for result full and actionable recommendations. In his welcome address National Coordinator Oilseeds, Dr. Akbar S. Mohmand gave a brief account of research achievements/developments of Oilseeds Research Program, NARC. Dr. Akhlaq Hussain, Director General, FSC&RD, Islamabad, talked about the regulatory status for the import of seed of sunflower hybrids.

In his concluding remarks Dr. M. Saleem, Senior Director (Plant Sciences Division) PARC lauded the concerted efforts of oilseed scientists for improving the oilseed production in the country.

 

PUBLICATIONS

 

Resource Person:

Dr. Akbar Shah Mohmand, PSO

asmohmand@hotmail.com

 

 

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