Agri scientists urged to focus on quality seed
By Tariq Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD—Deputy Chairman Planning Commission and Minister of State, Dr Engineer Muhammad Sheikh on Monday called upon the agriculture scientists to play their vital role in producing quality seed to enhance per acre yield of various crops including sugar beet for the prosperity of the country.
He stated this while addressing an international seminar on “prospects and issues of sugar beet to supplement sugar production in the country” here at the Auditorium of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) here today. The conference was jointly organized by Ministry of Food Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL), PARC and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority and Beet Tech. Consortium Project Germany. Dr M E Tusneem, Chairman PARC, Dr Kausar Abdullah Malik, member Planning Commission, Inayatullah Sugar Crops Commissioner MINFAL, Dr Pablo Exsonne Beet Tech Consortium Project Germany and Dr Iftikhar Ahmed, member (PSD) PARC also spoke on the occasion.
Dr Akram Sheikh while welcoming the holding of the seminar said that Pakistan wants to benefit from the knowledge and expertise of international experts by sharing their expertise for the promotion of agriculture sector in the country.
Dr Sheikh lauded the efforts of the PARC scientists for the promotion of agriculture sector in the country. He urged them to promote their research to farmers in simple languages so that they could benefit from research oriented results of agriculture scientists for the benefit of the country.
The Deputy Chairman Planning Commission said that due to consistency and continuity in the policies persuaded during past seven years have put the country on the path of economic prosperity. Dr.Akram Sheikh highlighting the vision 2030, said that in the vision that government has launched Vision 2020 a focused strategy with targets to transform Pakistan into a developed, industrialized, just and prosperous country.
He added that government is focusing on research and development in the agriculture sector in order to enhance the per acre yield of different crops including sugar beet and sugarcane for enhancing the production of sugar in the country. Dr.Akram Sheikh appreciated the services of Dr.M.E Tusneem and Kausur Abdullak Malik for the cause of the country. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Kauser Abdulla Malik, said that the objective of this seminar was to discuss the prospects and issues relating to the production, marketing and processing of sugar beet.
He said that the sugarcane is a predominant source of sugar and gur production in Pakistan, there is an urgent need to explore alternate sources of sugar such as sugar beet which seem to hold considerable potential and comparative advantage - albeit technically - vis a vis sugarcane. The Chairman PARC said that the Per capita consumption of sugar in Pakistan is about 25 kilograms per annum which is the highest among the developing countries. The demand of sugar in the country is likely to increase further in the coming years as a result of population increase and improvement in the per capita income and changing consumer preferences.
According to a rough estimate, by the year 2020, the country will need about 5.5 million tons per annum of sugar to meet the national demands vs. and average of 3.0 million tons at present. After looking at the hard facts, the area under sugarcane cannot be increased beyond the present level of about 1 million hectare due to shortage of water and competition with other crops. The options are to increase the productivity of sugarcane and to exploit the production potential of sugar beet which is more efficient in terms of productivity per unit of land, water and other agricultural inputs given its shorter growth duration of 5-6 months vs. 12-16 months of sugarcane..