Pakistan: Rice crop under threat from hybrid seeds

Several companies in the Pakistan are currently busy in the production and sale of hybrid rice seeds with tall claims it would boost the production manifold. However, many experts believe it poses a threat to the major cash crop of Pakistan.

The production of hybrid rice would jack up the import bill of pesticides and fertilisers by almost 50 per cent and the end result would not be so much rosy, agriculture experts said. A study conducted 15 years after the introduction of hybrid rice seed in China, the role model of this latest production technology, showed no significant difference between yields from hybrid rice and conventional crop, despite the fact that the former required 31 per cent more pesticides and 43 per cent additional fertilisers.

The study found that outbreak of diseases such as Downey Mildew, False Smut and Kernel Smut occurred frequently in areas cultivated with hybrid rice. This pushes up use of pesticides and the Chinese survey reveals any increase in yield resulting from the sowing of hybrid seeds was partly offset by additional chemical inputs.