Seed is the basic requirement of agriculture. Every crop grows
from some seed.
So this seed should be of
i. good quality
ii. genetic purity
iii. health and
iv. must have certain traits
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| Seeds |
To maintain a check and balance on the seed in the market
and determine its use, there exist an institute known as Federal Seed
Certification and Registration Department.
The Confusing Situation
After the 18th
constitutional amendments, the management of this department came to the
Punjab government but federal government still has hold on it. And due to this
situation, there is a confusion among the governments as to who will control
this so crucial department of agriculture sector in the country. In this
confusion, there is a big problem rising, this is about the seed which farmer
is buying from the market and growing in his farm.
Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department is
running under the 1976 act. This
means, it is directly subdue to the federal government. But there the problem
starts, for entire Punjab there are only 10 inspectors to monitor seed market
which is a small figure and the federation is not ready to increase its
manpower. The provincial government asked the federation to either devolve or
assign it a role and develop a new provincial version of the act. The
federation denied this and continued its operation as it was doing before.
Seed Market Division
The seed market of Punjab, consists of 30% seed from private sector, 30% from government and remaining 40%
seed is farmer's own seed which he saves from previous crop to store in
next season. Keeping in view this status of seed market, it is highly uncertain
to say what quality of seed the farmer is being given. The private seed
companies, individuals and other part timers in this business are ruining the
agriculture sector. There needs to be a monitoring of the seed quality coming
into the market from any source, a uniformity.
A Ray of Hope
The agriculture sector already has many problems in it.
There is a definite need for fair,
transparent and unbiased monitoring of the market and anybody involved with
the seed production.
The seed companies, farms, multiplication farms, their
varieties needs to be registered and brought into mainstream. At the same time,
the confidence of the 40% farmers
must also be boosted to lure them purchase good quality seed and increase the
production and get a fair return of their work in these times of inflation and
high bills.
The international agriculture is surpassing with novel
productions from the hybrid seed but the seed sector in the Pakistan is still
stuck at the pre-basic seed and that even lower quality. The agriculture sector
must increase its efficiency through proper
regulation and usage of resource, induction
of new technology and better
extension work needs to be done.
And for all this to happen, we need to be loyal with ourselves,
our work and our nation.
