PRESENT STATUS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF MECHANIZED PRODUCTION OF OILSEED CROPS IN PAKISTAN-A REVIEW

The domestic production of edible oils is critically insufficient to meet the demand of growing population. It only meets 27% of the total edible oil consumption in the country. The deficit is met through import of edible oils from other countries on which government is spending billions of rupees in for- eign exchange. It is imperative to mention that the efforts made so far at federal and provincial levels to increase the production of oilseed crops are not fruitful. This crop sector remained neglected for the last two decades due to mainly unfavourable edible oil import policies. Three main institutions/organizations namely Oilseed Programme NARC, Agricultural and Biological Engineering Insti- tute (ABEI), NARC and Pakistan Oilseed Development Board (PODB) Islamabad are jointly working at federal level on the development and promotion of oilseed crops. More precisely, Oilseeds Programme is working on the development of new varieties and their promotion. ABEI in addition to other mandatory assignments is looking after the new production technologies for oilseed crops. PODB is re- sponsible for the promotional field activities related to oilseeds such as intro- duction of new varieties and production technologies throughout the country. Oilseed crops are classified into two groups viz., traditional and non traditional crops. Rapeseed/mustard, groundnut, and sesame are the traditional ones while others such as sunflower and canola are the non-traditional oilseeds. Mechaniza- tion is one of the important and efficient tools to enhance the crop yield. It also helps to reduce the labour drudgery and ultimately increased farmers' prosperity.