LAHORE: The area for cultivation of high-yielding hybrid rice is going to be doubled from 25 percent to 50 percent in the next three years, said Shahzad Ali Malik, chief executive officer of Guard Rice Research and Services. All the effort of introducing hybrid rice seed in Pakistan is being commanded by national seed companies mainly in collaboration of Chinese leader in research and development with ‘Guard Agri’ having the lion’s share. Several multinational seed companies like Monsanto, Pioneer, Syngenta and Bayer did try to introduce hybrid rice seed but failed to outperform national seed companies. Their varieties were less rewarding for farmers due to lack of jump in production while seed cost was also high if compared with what local seed companies, Shahzad Ali Malik told Agriculture Journalists Association (AJA) in a candid discussion following oath-taking ceremony of the new body. Malik, who is founding president of Seed Association of Pakistan (SAP) and ex-president of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP), said that with untiring efforts of local scientists, the role of private sector in seed research and development was increasing day by day. “In total rice hybridization, around 90 per cent area of long-grain paddy is in Sindh, while 10 percent is in South Punjab. As aromatic basmati rice is first choice for farmers in Punjab, coarse varieties area is still low. However, with production of hybrid rice seed in central Punjab, paddy area in Punjab is likely to increase significantly in coming years,” he observed. “The major factor behind success of national seed companies in large-scale acceptance of rice hybrid seed has been development of heat-resistance and drought-tolerant varieties,” he said, adding that multinational seed companies had varieties that could not perform well in harsh summer of Sindh and southern Punjab. Malik said that the long grain hybrid rice that substituted IRRI-6 in coastal belt and central Sindh was a major success as its export market was rapidly evolving in the favour of farmers and exporters. “The higher yield and lower production give a premium to farmers, considerably changing their socio-economic conditions. Consequently, our long grain rice is gaining grounds globally with much ease by competing major producers and exporters countries of the world like Vietnam and Thailand.” Published in Daily Times, March 27th 2018.