Augmenting Pre-acre Output:  NARC trains 800 Wheat Farmers

Islamabad: Over 800 wheat growers from all over the country have received training from the National Agriculture Research Center (NARC) in order to increase their per-acre output during the current Rabi season and make them more competitive in local markets in addition to raising their revenue.

The centre has so far held 10 training sessions in various areas of Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Azad Kasmir, where growers received instruction on effective crop management techniques, including the usage of water, fertilisers and various pesticides.

NARC Program Leader Wheat Program Dr Sikander Khan Tanveer stated that wheat growers were also trained for weeds managements in order to ensure maximum per-acre output by controlling the weeds.

He said that the NARC under its ‘National Wheat Program’ had conducted these training secessions in Gujarat, Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan divisions of Punjab, adding that farmers of Mirpur Azad Kashmir, Attock, Kallar Syedan and Hazro were provided training on crop management.

Dr. Sikander Khan told that NARC has developed a strategy to train farmers and other field extension workers, performed around 17 training sessions, and trained about 21,000 farmers nationwide in order to increase per-acre wheat yield during the current season.

Tanveer added that 200 demonstration plants have been constructed at various locations to show high-yielding seed varieties. At the same time, a training programme for wheat farmers in the Balochistan, including the Jafarabad and Jhal Magsi districts, will be arranged.

In the meantime, growers received more than 5,000 bags of certified high-yielding wheat seed varieties, which will increase the production of certified seeds and guarantee the availability of high-yielding, diseases, pest and drought-resistant seeds.

A positive trend in wheat sowing has been observed throughout the crop-sowing country, which was credited to government incentives, particularly in the wake of disastrous floods and rain during the previous moonsoon season. APP