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The study was aspired to investigate the factor of production that were influencing the technical efficiency of wheat crop in Pakistan. A formal survey of 430 wheat crop farmers was conducted in the district of Rahim Yar Khan in year 2014. In order to estimate the impact of farm inputs on wheat crop production, Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) was used. The major objectives of this survey were to identify factors of variation and effect of planting of wheat after BT and Non-BT-cotton varieties on wheat production. In this study, the average technical efficiency of wheat farms on collective level was around 0.76. The mean technical efficiency of wheat after Non-BT and BT-cotton was 0.78 and 0.74, respectively. The result of the study revealed that those farmers cultivated the wheat crop after Non-BT cotton were technically more efficient compared to those who cultivated wheat after BT-cotton. The major factors that were found to be compliant for improved wheat production in study area were operational holding under wheat crop, which was cultivated after Non-BT or BT cotton, date of sowing, number of irrigations, tractors and tubewell's ownership, tenancy status, farmer's education and experience. The result of the study reported that farmers of wheat crop have the potential to produce the maximum level of wheat production provided that the farmers should improve their management skills. It is prerequisite in farm sector that farmers should use their managerial ability, knowledge, and technical skills in order to obtain the higher production and farm returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing population and decreasing on farm resources are threating the future food security. In this scenario, the cropping systems which can meet the increasing demand of food, feed and forage are needed. Intercropping is an eco-friendly option for sustaining and increasing the productivity of farmlands. Therefore, a field study relating to sunflower-mungbean intercropping intensities under irrigated conditions was conducted at Agronomic Research Farm, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad during the spring season, 2014 in RCB design with triplicate run. The treatments included viz. Four sunflower plants m-2 + 30 mungbean m-2, 6 sunflower plants m-2 + 30 mungbean plants m-2, 8 sunflower plants m-2 + 30 mungbean plants m-2, 4 plants m-2 of sunflower alone, 6 plants m-2 of sunflower alone, 8 plants m-2 of sunflower alone and 30 plants m-2 of mungbean alone. Plant population was maintained by keeping 75 cm apart single rows of sunflower and 50 cm apart double rows of mungbean both in sole and in the intercropped plots. The results indicated that sole sunflower grown in the pattern of 6 sunflower plants m-2 produced significantly higher achene yield than rest of the planting patterns under study. As regard sunflower-mungbean intercropping system all intercrops gave more economic returns than sole cropping of sunflower and mungbean and planting 6 sunflower plants + 30 mungbean plants m-2 proved to be superior with respect to grain yield and net economic return per unit area. Sunflower appeared to be dominant crop as was indicated by its higher values of competitive ratio and positive sign of aggressivity. However, on the basis of land equivalent ratio, maximum yield advantage was recorded in in 4 sunflower plants m-2 + 30 mungbean plants m-2 intercropping system. These results suggested that farmers may adopt 6 sunflower plants m-2 + 30 mungbean plants m-2 in intercropping system for increased productivity and economic return. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on forecasting the production and yield of food crops in Pakistan. Utilizing the "Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average" (ARIMA) model and data from 1948 to 2011. The data was obtained from Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Islamabad and various Economic Surveys of Pakistan. The result predicts that wheat (production and yield) forecast for 2029-30 to be about 37188 thousand tons and 3454 kg ha-1, respectively. The rice (production and yield) forecast for 2029-30 will be about 7176 thousand tons and 2630 kg ha-1, respectively. The maize (production and yield) forecast for 2029-30 will be about 5784 thousand tons and 6088 kg ha-1, respectively. In short, the production growth rate of wheat, rice and maize was higher in 2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water-wise crop production is gaining enormous attention due to looming water crises world. System of rice intensification (SRI) is a promising method for water-saving rice cultivation; however, it is more labor-intensive than the traditional method of rice production. Direct seeding (DSR) in SRI may be evaluated for potential benefits of both DSR and SRI. This study was conducted to evaluate the potential of rice seed priming in improving the performance of direct seeded SRI. Rice was direct seeded using primed seeds. For priming, seeds, of two rice cultivars Super Basmati and Shaheen Basmati, were overnight soaked in water (on-farm priming), soaked in aerated solution of CaCl2 (osmopriming) or water (hydropriming) for 48 h. Direct seeding with dry seeds and conventional transplanting were taken as controls. Seed priming improved the seedling emergence, plant height, tillering, kernel weight and the paddy yield in DSR in both tested cultivars. However, paddy yield was higher from conventionally transplanting rice. Nonetheless, DSR in SRI using primed seeds had high benefit cost ratio than conventional transplanting or direct seeding using dry seeds. In conclusion, seed priming techniques may be employed to improve the performance of direct seeded SRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]