Maize, paddy production feared to drop 20pc on extreme heat

LAHORE: Production of maize and paddy in the Punjab are likely to drop by around 20 percent as extreme heat during pollination stage and diseases have wreaked havoc with the two major summer crops, farmers and officials said on Thursday.

A senior official of Pakistan Agricultural Research Council said yield of maize could fall by 15 to 20 percent due to lack of grain setting amid hot daytime temperature.

The official, while referring to initial reports, said output of maize sown on large area could be hurt “as a result of abnormally high temperatures”.

Punjab Agriculture Department (extension wing) also acknowledged the reports of potential losses to maize and paddy crops. “Continuous high temperature has impacted some early sown corn and in some area rice as well,” a senior official of the department said. “Night temperature, which has dropped a bit, will positively impact pollination process,” the official added. For an optimal production of maize, day temperature should not be more than 38 centigrade and night temperature should be between 32 and 34 centigrade. Sowing season for summer (kharif) crops, including rice and maize starts in April and ends in June, while harvesting is completed in October.

Maize – sown in a large area of the province spanning from central district of Okara to southern district of Multan – have badly been affected by the prolonged hot weather in August and September, hurting the pollination process. Without proper cloud cover, the daytime temperature of more than 40 centigrade for several weeks did not let pollination to properly occur, leaving corncobs largely without grains.

Maize, being the highest yielding gain crop, assumes immense importance for meeting growing needs of human and animals. Maize occupies an area of 1.33 million hectares with production of 6.13 million tons in the country with an impressive yield of average 4.59 tons per hectare. Punjab is the largest maize growing province in the country with an area of 0.86 million hectares and production of 5.23 million tons with an average yield of 6.03 tons per hectare.

Agriculture experts ascribed extensive damage to crop yields to climate change-driven extreme heat recorded in the late summer and early autumn months. Several farmers were shocked to see their corncobs without grains. Health of the plants was otherwise almost perfect, they said.

“I was pained to see corncobs sans kernels,” Sultan, a farmer from Vehari district, without telling his second name, said. “I applied fertiliser and took all precautions for nurturing a good crop but it seems that my all efforts have gone in vain as there is hardly any grain on the cobs.”

The farmer said the plants’ height, strength of stems, spread-out of lush green colored leaves – all were like a healthy crop. “But eventually it is really the fury of nature that subdued the final yield badly.”

Another farmer of the same area said seed bag marketed by a multinational company cost him Rs8,500, but grain setting could not take place, leaving him befuddled.

Rana Imran, a farmer from Okara said global warming has started to badly hitting farm productivity. Harsh weather halted pollination process of maize and paddy crops. He feared that production of these crops would be affected “to a great extent”.

Ijaz Rao, a progressive farmer from Bahawalpur said severe heat affected maize planted till July 20. Rao felt that highest-ever mercury levels would negatively impact paddy as well as cotton production.

Diseases like root and stem rots have also grievously damaged crops in patches during spring and ongoing autumn seasons. Maize cultivated on thousands of acres with imported seeds were destroyed due to these diseases. “My crop was badly damaged due to root rot,” Muhammad Sajjad, a grower from Depalpur in Okara said. “I spent thousands of rupees on seeds but to no avail.”

Sajjad said seeds should be properly screened before their commercial sale to shield crops against diseases and other vulnerabilities. Growers stressed characteristics like plant health, heat and drought resistance and susceptibility to diseases and pest attack should be equally vetted in the whole process of seed registration and certification.