NA panel’s expert committee advises mandatory heat-tolerance trial of new seed varieties

LAHORE: Given the adverse impact of climate change on agricultural production, the National Assembly panel’s expert committee has recommended conducting mandatory heat-tolerance trials for all newly developed seed varieties.

Due to the severe heatwave this year, the yields of several crops, including hybrid and open-pollinated rice, have been negatively affected in Punjab and Sindh. Heat stress during the prolonged hot weather in the pollination phase also significantly disrupted seed setting during the mid-Kharif season. Shahzad Ali Malik, a member of the NA panel’s expert committee, advised that mandatory heat-tolerance trials for all new seed varieties should be conducted.

Referring to the ‘rice sterility issues’, the committee further recommended that seed companies should not be allowed to supply seeds to dealers before the recommended sowing period and should avoid promoting early seed sales that lead to heat-stress-prone early rice sowing.

It was noted that the Ayub Agriculture Research Institute (AARI-Faisalabad) suggests the best nursery sowing time for coarse or medium grain varieties is between May 20 and June 7, while for Basmati varieties, it is between June 1 and June 20.

The government should educate farmers about climate change and proactively inform them about potential extreme weather events, such as high temperatures and heavy rainfall, to guide timely crop sowing. Also, the agricultural research and development department, along with private seed companies, should focus on the research and development of heat-resistant crop varieties.

Above all, the technical member of the expert committee constituted by the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Food Security emphasized the need for separate trials for newly developed seed varieties in the national uniform yield trials (NUYT) to ascertain their potential for heat tolerance.

Shahzad Ali Malik, former president of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry and founding chairperson of the Pakistan Hi-tech Hybrid Seed Association (PHHSA), stressed that all seed companies should focus on developing drought-resistant, heat, and salinity-tolerant seed varieties.

He claimed that his company has prioritized the development of climate-smart seed varieties since the inception of its research and development activities. Consequently, the seeds produced and marketed by his company were least affected by heat stress, he maintained.

Malik, who is the chief executive of Guard Agricultural Research and Services, is working on developing agricultural seeds to reduce dependence on imports. Currently, the country imports approximately $10 billion worth of agricultural products annually, he said, adding that efforts should be made to enhance domestic agricultural production to save foreign exchange. He expressed hope that this year, farmers would receive reasonable prices for hybrid rice, unlike other crops in the current season.