Pakistan’s agriculture sector is a major economic driver, contributing just below a quarter to the nation’s GDP and employing 37 per cent of the labour force. In addition to that, its direct and indirect contribution to exports — such as textiles, rice and other commodities — cannot be overstated.

However, the sector is faced with multiple challenges. One of the key challenges is consistently declining and stagnating crop productivity due to land degradation, unavailability of quality seed, low mechanisation, slow adoption of new technology, water scarcity, high input costs, land fragmentation, and so on. The recurring extreme weather events unleashed by climate change — flash floods, drought, heatwaves, etc — and poor policy response have further exacerbated these challenges for the major cash crops. That said, the per-acre yield of at least two major crops — rice and maize — has increased phenomenally in recent years owing to the introduction of hybrid seed technology.

Dawn Business & Finance recently sat with Guard Group Marketing Director & CEO of Guard Group Shahzad Ali Malik, who had collaborated with China’s Yuan Longping High Tech Agriculture Company as Chief Executive of Guard Agriculture Research & Services to introduce hybrid rice technology to Pakistan in the early 2000s, to discuss the reasons behind declining crop yields and how hybrid seed technology can help boost the country’s crop productivity.

“There are many factors responsible for declining or stagnating crop yields. But primarily, it is because of a lack of research and development in and unavailability of good quality seeds. We have five field crops: wheat, cotton, rice, maize and sugarcane,” Mr Malik says.

‘Of the many factors responsible for declining or stagnating crop yields, lack of research and development in, and unavailability of, good quality seeds are key’

“Out of these five crops, only two are performing satisfactorily — maize and rice. If you look at the reasons, you would find that it’s due to the adoption of hybrid seed technology.........

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