Record sunflower production expected this year

LAHORE: Pakistan is likely to have record sunflower production this year as cultivation will exceed the target set by Pakistan Oilseed Development Board (PODB), The Express Tribune has learnt.

PODB set sunflower cultivation target at 1.2 million acres that has been achieved by Sindh and Punjab, excluding cultivation in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

Cultivation in Sindh has reached the targeted 800,000 acres while in Punjab sowing has reached 400,000 acres. Hence, cultivation in the two provinces has met the target set for the entire country.

The crop is also being sown in Balochistan and K-P and it is estimated that farmers in Balochistan would sow 50,000 acres, while in K-P cultivation is expected to start in coming days.

Experts have estimated that the oil extracting industry will receive one million tons of seeds from sunflower crops, producing 400,000 tons of edible oil. This will save around $580 million in edible oil imports.

A senior PODB official in Islamabad told The Express Tribune that sunflower cultivation figures are very encouraging, which would cut the country’s dependence on imported edible oil. He pointed out that K-P has low sunflower cultivation due to high tobacco plantations, which is more profitable, discouraging farmers from sowing other crops.

PODB Assistant Director Field Operations M Abbas Bhatti said that farmers in Sindh have cultivated the crop on 800,000 acres, which is 200,000 acres more than last year. Sunflower cultivation is under way in uphill areas and will start during May in plain areas of Balochistan.

He said sunflower crop in southern Punjab is considered of better quality than other areas and it has been cultivated in areas close to oil extracting mills.

All Pakistan Solvent Extractors Association (APSEA) Chairman Shahzad Ali Khan said that this season the sunflower crop would be purchased at the support price of Rs2,000 per maund, adding the support price has encouraged farmers to grow the crop on a large scale. He pointed out that the price is likely to reach Rs2,500 when sunflower is supplied to markets.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2011.