Islamabad,
Pakistan
April 27, 2009
Source:
Dawn -e paper,
Pakissan News Channel via
Pakistan Biotechnology
Information Center (PABIC)
By Sher Baz Khan
The Ministry of
Food and Agriculture has said at least three banned
varieties of cotton and an unapproved variety of rice paddy were
under widespread cultivation in the country.
Cotton varieties (S-12, S-14, NIAB-78) and paddy (Basmati-386)
are still being cultivated despite the fact that these varieties
have been banned.
The practice is not only keeping the country away from producing
these crops according to its potential but also damage the soil
and results in huge losses to growers.
The food ministry has sent a written reply to the National
Assembly Secretariat in which it has explained as to why the
authorities concerned at the federal and provincial levels were
not able to discourage the cultivation of unapproved and illegal
varieties of cotton and rice, the country’s two major crops.
The Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department
(FSC&RD), an attached department of the Ministry of Food, is
responsible for regulating market quality-control system of
seeds of approved varieties only as envisaged in the Seed Act,
1976.
However, according to its capacity, the FSC&RD through its
nominated seed inspectors/analysts regularly monitors the seed
quality of approved varieties in various parts of the country.
The food ministry expects that with the approval of the new
legislation (Seed Amendments Bill 2008 and Plant Breeders Right
Bill 2008) in department shall be in a better position to
efficiently restrict the spread and cultivation of unapproved
varieties of various crops.
The ministry has said that it was also the mandate of the
provincial governments to check cultivation of banned and
unapproved seed varieties.
Similarly, the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency
(Pak-EPA), the Ministry of Environment has also the mandate to
check the illegal release of genetically modified crop verities
like the unapproved and illegal Bt cotton.
Pakistan, which is self-sufficient in cotton, still does not
produce according to its potential.
According to the figures of the food ministry, the country this
year has 7.994 million tons of surplus cotton. Pakistan had
4.971 million tons of opening stock this year, while production
was around 11.3 million tons, which took the amount of total
stocks available to 16.265 million tons. Pakistan’s total
consumption this year is expected around 14.271 million tons. |
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