NARC/PNARD Wheat Field Trials: Regenerative Agri-Production System Results (2021-22)

The National Agriculture Research Council (NARC), Islamabad, in collaboration with the Pro Nature Alliance Research & Development (PNARD), ran a 2021-22 wheat trial comparing three treatments on 3-acre plots each, sown 6 December 2021 with Borlaug-2016 variety. T1 used the standardized RAS/PQNK package: hardpan broken as a one-time operation good for at least five years, sowing on 42-inch raised beds with 18-inch water furrows via a pneumatic precision planter, rice-straw mulch, and no chemical fertilizer, pesticide, or weedicide. T2 and T3 represented current best farmer practice with a seed drill or hand broadcasting respectively, flat land, and full chemical inputs.

T1 used only 4.24 kg of seed per acre (against a 5 kg fill, reflecting about 80 percent planter precision), compared to 40 kg/acre for the T2 drill and 50 kg/acre for T3 broadcasting, yet still out-yielded both: T1 produced 46.65 maunds/acre against 42.34 for T2 and 43.50 for T3. T1 also recorded a higher spike length (12.6 cm vs 10.3 and 9.9), more spikelets (22.3 vs 18.4 and 18.8), and a maximum of 86 tillers per seed on individual plants against an average of 29 per plant, substantially higher than the other treatments.

The economic comparison is the sharper result: T1's cost of production was 11,660 PKR/acre against 26,236 for T2 and 22,036 for T3, roughly half, while its profit margin of 100,300 PKR/acre exceeded T2's 75,380 and T3's 82,364, despite the lower seed-use precision. No pest attack occurred in T1 despite using no pesticide or weedicide, and weed pressure remained minimal. Following this trial, PNARD and NARC developed a multi-seed pneumatic precision planter with a built-in mulcher, tested at 100 percent precision and distributed to four farms in Sindh and Punjab growing maize, cotton, moong, and fodder grasses.

A parallel qualitative survey conducted by the World Bank with Pakistan's Planning Commission interviewed 55 farmers in Punjab and Sindh and found that while raised beds, mulching, and precision planting had seen wide adoption, the harder-to-adopt package elements, hardpan breaking, no-tilling, and eliminating chemical inputs, lagged significantly. Farmers largely lacked awareness that RAS/PQNK conversion is a gradual, organic-matter-driven process rather than an overnight switch, and cited a lack of rentable, compatible machinery and public-sector technical support as key adoption barriers.