Crowned by glittering yellow flowers, his bountiful field in central Punjab is a source of hope and accomplishment for farmer Ahmad Hussain as the oil seed sunflower crop nears harvest.
“I have cultivated sunflower for the first time in my life; Favorable weather is going to help me in getting a good harvest,” Hussain, standing on the land in Nankana Sahib District, says.
His hopes flow from a contract he has had with an oil solvent unit for the sale of the produce.
Sunflower is a sensitive crop that usually matures in 120 to 130 days but its maturity duration depends on the variety and weather.
Sunflower in the Central Pakistan is expected to become completely ripe towards the end of May.
“Before harvesting, farmers should visit the field to see whether it was 100 percent ready for harvest,” says Dr. Nayab Haider, Director General , Punjab Agriculture Extension.
The crop gets ready for harvest when the back of the flowers attains golden color, half portion of the green leaves fall down and there is no milkier complexion of the seeds.
Farmers, edible oil crop experts advise, should pluck sunflowers by scythe, a hand driven tool traditionally called “Daranti.” These flowers are spread on a platform some one foot above the ground for two to three days.
Then these flowers should undergo thresher machine process for separation of seeds. Farmers can also beat flowers by wooden sticks in the case of a smaller production.
The sunflower seeds are then dried in sunlight. A combined harvester is applied when there is a higher production obtained from a vast area.
Internationally, sunflower is one of the four most important annual crops in the world grown for edible oil. In Pakistan, it was introduced about half a century ago, but it is still not the first choice of the growers, especially in the central Pakistan Punjab province due to various socio-economic constraints. The province had set a cultivation target of 200,000 acres this year to get a total production of 137661 tons of seed.
After the decision to phase out Palm-oil based, hydrogenated Vanaspati ghee in Punjab over the next two years, the importance of local edible oil production has attained great significance. Sunflower, Canola and cotton are the major sources of local oil production which presently contribute only 33 percent of the total edible oil demand in Pakistan. About two third of the demand is met by the import of palm oil from Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries.
Initially, the area of adaptation for this crop was in the cotton belt (Vehari, Lodhran, Bahawalpur, Umerkot) and rice growing areas of Sialkot and Badin in Punjab and Sindh, respectively.
But now the crop is being introduced to other parts of Pakistan too. The crop is grown in spring as well as in autumn. The average yield in Pakistan is 1.3 tons/ha. Almost 99% area is under hybrids imported by different multinational seeds companies. However, local hybrids are also available and with an expanding area.
Agriculturalists say the crop has good prospects as intercrop with sugarcane, if suitable hybrids and production technology is available. Sunflower is an important oilseed crop and is successfully grown under different climatic conditions of the country, i.e., in the warm and harsh conditions of southern part of the country to mild and cool climate in the north.
The growth of the crop is being seen as a viable indigenous means to bridging the gap between the production and consumption of edible oil.
But for that to happen, more and more farmers have to adopt sunflower as a major Rabi season crop, and the federal and provincial governments have to come up with more incentives for the local edible crops.
Photos by Muhammad Luqman
