ISLAMABAD: National Agriculture Research Center (NARC) has conducted training to over 800 wheat growers from the crop-producing areas across the country to boost their per-acre output during the ongoing Rabi season and make them more competitive in the national and international markets besides increasing their income.
According to details till date, NARC has organized 10 training secessions in different parts of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Baluchistan, and Azad Kashmir and the farmers were provided training on efficient crop management practices including usage of water, fertilizers and use of other different pesticides.
Talking to APP, National Coordinator Wheat at National Agriculture Center Dr. Sikander Khan has said that the growers were also trained for weeds management to ensure maximum per-acre output by monitoring the weeds.
He further said that the NARC under its National Wheat Program had organized these training secessions in different divisions of Gujarat, Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan in Punjab, adding that growers of Mirpur Azad Kashmir, Attock District, Kallar Syedan and Hazro were trained on crop management.
Modern techniques for Farmers
Dr. Sikandar further added that NARC has evolved a strategy to provide training to farmers and other field extension workers along with organizing about 17 training programs and providing training to about 21,000 farmers across the country, which would also help in enhancing per-acre production.
Meanwhile, farmers from Baluchistan Province would also be included in the training sessions including Jafarabad and Jhal Magsi districts would also be conducted to enhance the farm output in the area, adding that 200 demonstration plants were also placed at different locations to demonstrate high-yielding seeds varieties.
Meanwhile, more than 5,000 bags of certified high-yielding seed types of wheat seeds were also provided to farmers that would help increase the production of certified seeds and ensure the provision of high-yielding, and drought, diseases-resilient seeds.
It is worth noted here that wheat sowing across has witnessed an encouraging trend, which was attributed to incentives offered by the government, particularly after the catastrophic floods and rains during the last monsoon season.
According to data received from the field extension departments of provincial governments, by the last week, the target of wheat sowing has nearly completed (over 91 percent) while that of grains sowing covered over 21 million acres as compared to the desirable targets of 22.85 million acres.
