Sunflower
SUNFLOWER:
| Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) was introduced as an oilseed crop 40 years back in Pakistan but its expansion in acreage and production is fluctuating due to various production and socio-economic constraints. Its seed contains 35-55% oil. Research work on this crop has shown that there is great potential of growing it under all the soil and climatic conditions in rainfed as well as irrigated farming system in different agro-ecological zones. The areas of adaptation for sunflower are in the cotton belt (Vehari, Lodhran, Bahawalpur, Umerkot) and rice growing areas of Sialkot and Badin in Punjab and Sindh, respectively. The crop is grown in spring as well as in autumn. The average yield in Pakistan is 1238kg/ha. Almost 99% area is under hybrids imported by different multinational seeds companies. However, local hybrids are also available and area under them is increasing with the time. It has good prospects as intercrop with sugarcane, if suitable hybrids and production technology is available. During 2017-18, the area was 82100 ha with production of 101700 tons. |
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