Lack of funds hampers rehabilitation

CCRI needs Rs500,000 to restore water pumping system.

NOWSHERA:

Scientists and staff of one of the premier seed research institutes of the country are racing against time to irrigate around 280 acres of land as they faces a dearth of funds needed for revamping the water pumping system, officials say.

The spring season has already begun and if the institute’s lift irrigation system is not restored on time, it will not be able to grow maize seeds for supply to farmers this season. The seeds stored for cultivation will go waste and its economic consequences will be hard for farmers to bear, as they would have no other alternative except to purchase seeds from multinational companies at high prices. Ironically, this whole situation can be averted with a paltry investment of Rs0.5 to Rs1 million.

The Cereal Crops Research Institute (CCRI) is the main research body of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and produces pre-basic and basic seeds of wheat and maize. In floods last summer, the institute remained submerged in water for three days and its irrigation system which pumped water from the Kabul River was washed away. In addition to this, tons of stored seeds, machinery and buildings were destroyed and the institute could not cultivate wheat. However, efforts are being stepped up to sow the maize crop this season.

“Only 30 per cent of the cultivable area of 280 acres is irrigated by canals and the remaining land is supplied with water pumped from the Kabul River,” Dr Gulzar Ahmed, Director of the institute, told The Express Tribune.

Ahmed, while expressing concern, said if the pumps were not revived on time, then spring maize plantation will be under threat. “A new water pumping system costs Rs1 million and restoration of the old one will cost Rs500,000. We are trying to restore the old system on our own,” he said.

Seeds produced by the institute are provided to the Agriculture Extension and the Agriculture Development Fund which multiply the seeds on their farms and then sell to the farmers.

The price of common seed produced at CCRI is around Rs30-40 per kg and hybrid seed costs Rs100 per kg. In comparison, hybrid seed of multinational companies costs Rs300-500 per kg.

CCRI, established in 1955 and spread over 437 acres, is situated some three kilometres east of Nowshera town in Pirsabak village. The institute, which employs at least 30 scientists and 100 other staff, boasts of introducing the first hybrid maize seed in the country. It produces at least 150 tons of wheat and around 60-100 tons of maize annually.

Flood losses to the institute are estimated at around Rs270 million, Gulzar Ahmed said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 8^th, 2011.