‘Baharia’ maize cultivation must be started immediately
FAISALABAD – The agriculture experts have advised growers to start cultivation of ‘Baharia’ maize crop immediately and complete it by end of February for getting bumper crop.
According to a spokesman for Agriculture (Extension) Department, farmers should prefer approved and hybrid varieties of maize for ‘Baharia’ cultivation so that they could get maximum financial benefits of their crops. Among approved varieties of maize included YH-1898, FH-988, FH-1046, YH-5427, YH-5482, Gohar-19, Sahiwal Gold, Sumit Pop, Pop-1, Sweet-1 and Malka-2016.
He said that maize was an important crop of Pakistan, which played a pivotal role in catering to domestic food requirements whereas it could also help the growers to mitigate their financial constraints due to its attractive market value.
He said that the growers should use latest technologies to cultivate and harvest maize as manual way of cultivation was causing wastage of hard labor as well as increased input cost. Due to the latest techniques, the farmers could obtain 100-120 maund per acre yield of their maize crops easily if they used latest cultivation techniques. Therefore, they should immediately get guidance from the agri experts whereas the field staff of agriculture department was also activated to convince, guide and help the farmers for cultivating maize crops over maximum space of their land, he added.
The spokesman further said that more than 2 million acres of land was brought under maize cultivation in Punjab and this commodity gave two crops in a year. The best time for ‘Baharia’ cultivation of maize crop was from January 20 to end of February. Therefore, the farmers should immediately start cultivation of maize crops and complete it within the time as late sowing could hamper the production in addition to badly affecting the grain quality as well as quantity.
The growers should also use 8-10 kilograms seed of hybrid variety which had more than 90 percent growth rate for irrigated lands whereas 12-15 kg seed was sufficient for arid areas, he added.
Article source: https://www.nation.com.pk/29-Jan-2023/baharia-maize-cultivation-must-be-started-immediately