Islamabad — Development of 45 new high yield pest resitant crop varieties is resulting in manifold increase in production and fetching more than Rs 6000 million additional annual income to farmers.
Agricultural services being provided by Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) through its agricultural institutes and biotechnology institute is helping farmers to achieve more in limited resources.
According to official sources, of the total cultivated area in the country, PAEC crop varieties are sown on 60% are in Sindh, 50% in NWFP and 20% of sown area in Punjab. Due to contribution of PAEC, manufacturing of non-Toxic,non pollutant bio fertilizer is now a possibility. Furthermore reclamation of saline land through technology is also evolved by PAEC. Expert services in this field are being provided to 10 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) member countries, sources maintained.
They said that a laser land leveller has indigenously developed which drastically reduces the cost of land levelling resulting in reduced requirement of irrigation water to the crops.
Sources said that Seed Council of Sindh has granted approval to different crops varieties, which included two varieties of wheat (NIA- Sunhari and NIA-Amber) and one cotton variety (NIA-Ufaq) of Nuclear Institute of Agriculture (NIA) Tandojam. With the release of these varieties,they said, the total number of varieties developed by NIA, Tandojam has risen to 25.
The institute has, therefore, played a vital role in enhancing agricultural production in Sindh and is a significant contribution of PAEC in agriculture,sources mentioned. About NIA-Sunhari,they said it is ranked 1st for the grain yield on Pakistan basis as compared with the yield of other candidate lines from Sindh.
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