After knitwear, ready-made clothing, and bed wear, rice is Pakistan’s second most important food and its fourth-largest export, however the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that output of rice fell by 41% between 2022 and 2023, totaling only 5.5 million tonnes.
The main cause was the devastation of floods, which prevented Sindh, which accounts for roughly a third of the nation’s output, from producing rice to expectations to the tune of 80%. Climate, weeds, and pests are other major problems for rice.
Hybrid rice is a potential solution to these obstacles because the full potential of any crop’s development is buried in its seeds.
When Dr. Yuan Longping and his team prevented a devastating famine in China, making it the world’s largest producer of rice, hybrids for rice first appeared in the 1970s. Along with Nobel Prize winner Norman Borlaug, he is still regarded as the second architect of the Green Revolution.Two major subspecies of rice exist worldwide: Japonica and Indica. The rice known as “Japonica” is grown in China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan and is native to temperate and high-altitude regions. It cooks up shorter and stickier than other varieties.
The long, non-sticky Indica rice, on the other hand, separates after cooking and is grown in India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Southern China, and Africa. All cultivars of basmati, extra-long grain, and coarse rice are members of the Indica species in Pakistan.
Traditional varieties of plants include both male and female reproductive organs on a single flower and spread through self-pollination, while hybrid rice is created by mating two separate parents. In contrast to conventional cultivars, it promotes a process known as heterosis that results in the production of more spikelets (rice flower units) per unit area and heavier grains.
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Rice Research Institute, Kala Shah Kaku (RARI) collaborated to formally launch the hybrid rice programme in Pakistan throughout the 1990s. The first Pakistani Basmati rice hybrid, created by RARI, was approved by the government in 2021, and the auction for the marketing and distribution licences was mandated.
Dr. Shawaiz Iqbal, Senior Scientist at RARI, said, “Creating Basmati Hybrids is quite difficult because we have to preserve its renowned length and aroma.” 115 maunds/acre of yield potential and all other characteristics of basmati rice are held by the approved variety KSK111H, he explained.
However, because the auction process has not yet been defined, commercialization has stopped as a result of the government shake-up.
With a 74 percent market share in Pakistan’s hybrid rice market, Guard Agriculture Research & Services, situated in Lahore, is another industry leader. A dozen hybrid cultivars that are resistant to disease, shattering, lodging, and heat have all been successfully produced and marketed. Each cultivar has an output capacity of 120 maunds per acre.
