ISLAMABAD:
Seed technology can give a major head start to the country’s agriculture, said Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam.
In a meeting with Punjab Agriculture Minister Nauman Ahmad Langrial on Thursday, Imam stressed that as per the rules of business, the Ministry of National Food Security was the policy planner for the country’s agriculture and urged provincial agricultural departments to work in harmony.
“We need to modernise our seed technology for major crops,” he emphasised. “Genetically modified cotton varieties planted in Pakistan are first generation Bt cotton, which has disoriented its resistance to the pink ball worm and caused severe damage to the crop in the last season.”
He added that the new seed technology was available only with the multinational companies and they were not interested in introducing them in Pakistan.
The federal minister pointed out that some of the local public and private-sector research institutes had developed multiple gene varieties, which proved effective in preliminary trials. “Genes have been cleared for national biosafety by the National Biosafety Committee (NBC) of the Ministry of Climate Change,” he told the provincial minister.
“The normal approval process requires two years of testing in the National Coordinated Varietal Trials (NCVT), two-year-long DUS trial and clearance from the NBC,” he said.
“Considering today’s needs, the government of Punjab has proposed the shortening of time taken in approval process as well as provisional approval on the basis of one-year trials of varieties with new technology or extraordinary traits.”
They required a change in seed rules, which were being submitted for consideration, said Imam.
He stressed that a four-member committee should be constituted to deliberate the Seed Act. Food Secretary Omar Hamid Khan will prepare terms of reference and recommendations should be made within three weeks.
After the 18th Constitutional Amendment, Punjab promulgated its own pesticide rules and regulations, and enforced them.
“The federal government regulates pesticide imports and has the mandate to ensure pesticide quality at the import stage as well as domestic production plants,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 31st, 2020.
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