close
Friday March 29, 2024

Implementation of Seed Rules 2016 to improve productivity

By Jawwad Rizvi
November 29, 2017

LAHORE: Agriculture technologists urge the Ministry of Food Security and Research (NFSR) to implement Seed Rules 2016 for biotech product registrations in letter and spirit to bring technologies to farmers for improved productivity.


Experts say that biotechnology is a tool available to improve food security problem and reducing poverty. The application of biotechnology by Pakistani farmers would not only result in


enhancing productivity, but would also help address food security challenges faced by the country. At a time when nations all across the world are multiplying their agriculture productivity, preventing disease prevalence and solving the problem of environmental pollution, Pakistan needs a national strategy and plan of action to use this revolutionary science for solving/preventing problems and for rapid development.


Biotech crops can increase productivity and income significantly, and hence, can serve as an engine of rural economic growth that can contribute to the alleviation of poverty for the small and resource-poor farmers, technologists said.


In 2005, the government of Pakistan notified the Pakistan Biosafety Rules and Guidelines 2005 (Rules) under then Ministry of Environment (current Ministry of Climate Change). These regulate all type of biotech activities by institutes/companies of public and private sectors in Pakistan.


These rules not only legislate to underpin the growing local demand of biotechnological interventions for crop improvement but also meeting the obligation of international environmental agreements such as Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.


Under these Rules, the National Biosafety Committee (NBC) is the apex committee to review and approve proposals related to import, export, field trials and commercial release of genetically modified crops in Pakistan. Pakistan is considered a low income developing country. Agriculture is its most important sector due to its primary commitment of providing healthy food to the fast growing population, they added.


Although the rate of population increase has considerably slowed down from over three percent in 1980s to 2.09 percent in 2009-10, it is still considered high as per international standards. With the current rate of population growth, the population is expected to double by 2050—making Pakistan the 4th largest nation by 2050 from the current status of 6th most populous state of the world.


As regards the land resources in Pakistan, the total cultivated area has increased by just 40 percent during the past 60 years, while there was more than four times increase in population with urban expansion of over seven-fold — resulting into mega-cities as well as rising population pressure on cultivated land. Innovative technologies have to be exploited to enable sufficient food availability in the future. Biotechnology can help improve both yield and nutritional quality of crops and reducing the impact on the environment. Pakistani agriculture is struggling for the implementation of biotechnology at a time when the world is moving to commercially launch biological technology in agriculture and researching gene editing. It is high time to quickly implement the rules and regulations to secure the future of agricultural production in accordance with the growing food security demands.