FUTURE RESEARCH THRUSTS FOR VEGETABLES IN PAKISTAN
ZEESHAN ARIF WAHLA 1* , RAO MUHAMMAD AFTAB JAMIL2 and AQSA ASGHER3
1*SEED SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FAISALABAD
2DEPARTMENT OF HORTICULTURE, , UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FAISALABAD
3PLANT BREEDING and GENETICS DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FAISALABAD
Corresponding Author’s Email:
FUTURE RESEARCH THRUSTS FOR VEGETABLES IN PAKISTAN
INTRODUCTION
Pakistan is a developing country but naturally have lots of options by which we can improve our vegetable industry. As we have to import certain vegetable’s seeds and we have many issues with the nutritional values of some vegetables. Fresh and pure availability of vegetables are also major concerns. So in this regard if following steps should be taken immediately we can eradicate these problems and raise the economy of farmers and whole country by providing good quality seeds with minimum prices.
Off-Season Vegetable Production
Research on Green House/Tunnel cultivation will be augmented for the production of off-season vegetables to prolong the availability period of different vegetables. This will not only improve the supply situation but will also increase the farm income.
Tunnels are used to grow summer vegetables in winter season. The yields in plastic tunnels are generally very high due to vertical use of space and better environmental and inputs controls. At the same time it fetches high price on account of increased production and off-season availability. Summer vegetables like cucumber, tomato, chillies, sweet pepper, squashes, bitter gourd, red gourd, sponge gourd and bottle gourd are being grown successfully under plastic tunnels in Punjab. The nursery of tomato, chillies and sweet pepper is planted from 15 to 31 Oct. and transplanted in the plastic tunnels from 15th to 30th November. Cucumber and bottle gourd seeds are planted directly in the tunnels from 15th to 31st October. Squashes, bitter gourd, red gourd and sponge gourd are directly seeded in low tunnels during second fortnight of January.
Popularization of Kitchen Gardening
To encourage the people for kitchen gardening, a kit containing all the important vegetables sufficient to be sown for about 10 Marla’s of land, is prepared and supplied on cheaper rates along with their production technologies. Approximately 25,000 kits are being sold every year to the rural and urban communities. Moreover, these vegetables are fresh for home consumption so have better effects on health of people.
Seed Self-Sufficiency
There has been no formal and systematic arrangement for local vegetable seed production. Most of the seed requirements were met through imports. To reduce foreign exchange expenditures, there was a need to produce seed of important vegetables locally. A project was initiated using progressive farmers and Punjab Seed Corporation for seed multiplication. Reasonable seed self-sufficiency has already been achieved in many vegetables. Several private companies are now in the field, which are being patronized and provided basic seed to accelerate pace of seed self-sufficiency.
Development of Hybrid Seeds
Hybrids are combinations of genetically two different parents. The hybrids in vegetables are more important than any other crop because of uniformity of size and shape of vegetable in hybrid varieties. Keeping in view, the importance of hybrids for high yield and uniformity in size, public and private Institutes have started a hybrid development program in tomato, cucumber, chilies, Brinjal, bitter gourd and long melon. The development of inbred lines in these crops is in progress.
Organic Vegetable Production
Organic vegetables belong to a farming system which avoids the use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides and growth regulators. Due to increased consciousness about excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers, demand for vegetables produced under organic production system is increasing. Keeping this requirement in view, research on organic farming is being started in public Institutes.
BOTTLENECKS IN VEGETABLE RESEARCH
- Scientists per crop are very few; hence pace of research is very slow.
- Limited availability of Germplasm.
- Large number of vacant posts due to ban on recruitment.
- Scarcity of operational funds.
- Lack of training facilities in advanced vegetable breeding techniques.
Shortage of irrigation water for research area does not allow studies on irrigation requirements.
CONCLUSION
No doubt hybrids seed production in vegetables will improve the economic situation of farmers and government.At present there are many diseases which are just because of the consumption of vegetables which results from artificial fertilizers and sprays. These things are ruining over health so in order to main good health we should promote kitchen gardening and organic farming.
