Agriculture Research Station, Swabi

Agricultural Research Station Swabi Tel: 0938-221721      |         Email: arsswabi@gmail.com

Brief  

Agriculture Research Station Swabi is situated at 72° 30' 22'' E and 34° 07' 30'' N longitude and latitude; elevation is 370 meters absolute. This station was established in 2013. The total area of the station is 389 Kanal and 17 Marla. The land was leased out from the Auqaf Department. Offices and laboratory buildings occupy about 3 acres of land and rest of land consists of field area, roads, and irrigation channels. This station has the mandate to evolve new and improved varieties of high-value crops, including fruits, vegetables, cereals and oil seeds that are high yielding, disease-resistant, and drought-tolerant and are best adapted to different agro-ecological zones of the District and Province. Studies are being conducted on improved production technologies of crops, insect pests and disease management. Germplasm of high-value crops is collected from various national and international sources and are used for evaluation and variety development at the station. This station is utilizing its potential up to the maximum for the production and increase of quality seed of various crops like wheat, maize, garlic, fruit nursery plants like pecan nuts, moringa, peach, apricot, grapes, fig, pomegranate, etc. The quality seed is then regularly distributed among the farming community through the Agriculture Extension Department to enhance crops productivity. Efforts are also being made to train farmers on every aspect of new and improved crop technologies through field days, trainings, seminars and workshops, etc.

District Swabi covers an area of 148689 hectares (ha) of land. Agricultural land is 87046 ha, culturable waste is 26630 ha, 26505 ha are covered by the forest while 8508 ha of land is not available for cultivation. It has a subtropical humid climate with great variation from the last 2-3 years. Summers are hot and humid, while winters are too cold. The agricultural land of the district is quite fertile, comprising both irrigated and rainfed land having the potential of producing high value crops. Major crops sown in the area are wheat, maize, sugarcane, tobacco, brassica, ground nut, garlic, and other vegetables, etc. The farmers take keen interest in vegetable cultivation and supply the produce to local and distant markets. Major vegetables grown are tomato, squashes, melons, watermelons, chilies, potato, cucumbers, bitter gourd etc. Different types of fruit plants are also grown in the area which feed local as well as far-flung markets. Orange and guava orchards covered considerable area in villages Maini, Jhanda, and Tordher. Research and development (R&D) in agriculture sector plays key role in increasing the productivity of field crops. Agriculture Research Station Swabi is striving hard to solve farmer’s problems and to promote agriculture on modern footings in the District as well as in the whole province.

MANDATE

1. Evolution and development of new varieties of cereals, vegetables, and fruits for high yield, wide adoptability, and tolerance to diseases and environmental stresses.
2.       Development of production technologies to obtain maximum returns from the released varieties.
3. Production of BNS and Pre-basic seed of the improved varieties.
4. Provide technical support to other organizations/projects.
5. To make recommendations for the control of insect pests and diseases of the Cereal and horticultural crops to the farmers.
6. Dissemination of improved production technologies to farmers through training, field days, Radio talks and publications

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS:

• The first high-yielding and disease-resistant wheat variety has been approved with the name of Swabi-1 to increase wheat productivity in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
• A new high-yielding garlic variety, '' Swabi Garlic-1,'' has been approved to enhance per-acre yield of garlic.
• The first okra variety released with the name "Green Finger" with a high yield and excellent quality.
• Research work on the development of new varieties of cereals, vegetables, and fruits is in progress.
• Germplasm of grapes (34), fig (32), pomegranates (17) and gladiolus (23) are under evaluation with high potential to be the future varieties.

• A breeding program for maize has been initiated and local land races and CIMMYT maize lines are under field trial for further evaluation.

• The soil testing laboratory became functional to facilitate the farmers of the area.
• Citrus GPU has been established, from which true-to-type budwood is available for the registered nurseries.
• A nursery of fruit plants is established from which true-to-type saplings of various fruit plants are available for the farmers at government-approved prices.
• Research work on the development of improved production technologies and the control of insect pest and disease techniques is in progress.

• Breeder Nucleus (BNS) and pre-basic seed production of the latest approved wheat varieties is in progress. 

• During the last two years, more than 27 metric tonnes of wheat pre-basic seed were handed over to the Extension Department during each year for further multiplication and onwards supply to the farmers.
• Every year, students of different universities conduct research at BS, MS and Ph.D. levels at ARS Swabi under the supervision of qualified scientists of the station.

ACHIEVEMENTS DURING THE LAST 4 YEARS