New cultivating machine to increase maize yield distributed among farmers

SHERGARH: New cultivating machines aimed at increasing the yield of maize crop were distributed among 30 farmers from different districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at a ceremony held here on Thursday.

Director General Agriculture (Extension) Khyber Pakhtun-khwa, Iqbal Hussain was the chief guest on the occasion.The Push Row Planters machines have been introduced by Petal Seeds, a seed company of the province having its headquarters in Shergarh. The machines are designed to ensure effective utilisation of seeds and fertilizers and facilitate farmers.

Attended by a good number of farmers, agriculturalists and representatives of different organisations, the ceremony was also addressed by Dr Mohammad Imtiaz, country director of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (commonly called by its Spanish acronym CIMMYT), Mohammad Mushtaq Safi, chief operating officer of Petal Seeds, Mohammad Ishtiaq and others.

Speaking on the occasion, Iqbal Hussain stressed the need for use of latest technological tools for farming. He said with the introduction of the new cultivator, effective utilisation of seed and fertiliser would be ensured.

He urged the farmers to take benefit of the machine and also lend it to other farmers so that they could also use it. He said that one such machine was enough for an entire village. “This machine has not only reduced the labour of the farmers but also enabled them to do maximum cultivation in the shortest span of time,” he added.

Fazl Hussain, who was among the speakers, remarked that agriculture is worship. The farmers should have the intention to increase yield and benefit the masses and Allah would grant them reward for it, he opined.

Dr Mohammad Imtiaz said that maize was an important crop in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and is cultivated using different methods mostly manual. He said manual cultivation required huge quantity of seed. Also extra labour and time is required for manual harvesting of the crop, he said.

“In order to save time, labour and resources of the farmers, CIMMYT and Petal Seeds focused attention on introducing a tool that could benefit the farmers and increase the production of maize. After two years of experiments, this machine was developed,” he explained.

Mohammad Mushtaq said currently some 60,000 farmers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were sowing maize crop and majority of them were using the manual methods. He said the Push Row Planter would reduce the cost and increase production.

He said they were striving to make the province self-sufficient in grain. “Currently hybrid seeds were mostly cultivated in the country and it required modern farming. This machine has two separate sections for seed and fertilisers. Only two people are required to operate it and do maximum sowing in a short span of time,” he pointed out.