Sarhad J. Agric. Vol. 23, No. 3, 2007 Technology Transfer Institute (PARC), Tarnab, Peshawar - Pakistan VARIETAL ADOPTION EFFECT ON WHEAT CROP PRODUCTION IN IRRIGATED AREAS OF NWFP Arshad Farooq, Muhammad Ishaq, Shujaat Yaqoob and Khurram Nawaz Sadozai ABSTRACT This study was conducted in three districts such as Swat, Charsadda and Kohat during July 2005, to examine yield performance and identify different wheat varieties cultivated in irrigated areas of NWFP and to make policy recommendations. The area farmers allocated two third of the cropped area to wheat crop. Banned (rust susceptible) variety Inqilab 91 was very popular and grown by majority of the farmers. Fakhrisarhad was the top yielding variety in the study area with an average yield of 30.40 maunds per acre. The average yield of different varieties ranged from 19.43 to 30.40 maunds per acre. The overall average yield of the wheat in the study area was 22.52 maunds per acre. More than half of the farmers reported that the wheat seed is very expensive, lack of information and non availability of improved wheat seed is the other major problems restricted the farmers to adopt improved wheat seed. INTRODUCTION Pakistan is basically an agricultural country and its economy is mainly agrarian. It is the biggest sector of the economy and earns about 35-40% of the national income from it. Pakistan like many developing countries of the world is faced with the problem of low agricultural productivity. Many countries including Pakistan are faced with the challenge of producing more food and fiber, while there is little room for expansion in the cultivated area and yield per unit area of various crops are very low. Inspite of the fact that our country is blessed with a galaxy of climate, soil condition and irrigation water. The country is totally dependent on agriculture for the supply of food and fiber. Therefore, it is imperative to increase food and fiber production to cope up not only with ever growing requirements of the country, but for the sake of foreign exchange earnings and to attain self- sufficiency. Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) being the staple food, cash crop and major source of nourishment of the people of Pakistan, it ranks first in acreage and production among all food crops. It occupies 70 percent of the Rabi crop and 37 percent of the total cropped area in the country. Wheat accounts for nearly 45.6 percent of total cropland and around 74.92 percent of the total area under food grain crops. The contribution of wheat in the value-added in agriculture stand at 13.8 percent and its share in the GDP is 3.2 percent (GOP, 2004). Wheat has several uses. It is both staple food and cash crop for majority of population world wide including Pakistan. Wheat grains and straw constitute an integral part of livestock’s daily ration. It supplies around 53 and 59 percent of the total daily caloric and protein intake of the people (Landes et al, 1993). Wheat is grown extensively in Pakistan on a subsistence basis for home consumption and also as a cash crop. . On an average, the households incur 16.26 percent of the monthly expenditures on wheat and wheat flour. The per capita wheat consumption is 125 Kgs per year is among the highest in the world. Average per capita monthly consumption of wheat and wheat flour is 9.27 Kgs (GOP, 2004). The governments of Pakistan in the past made efforts to increase acreage under wheat cultivation, total production and yield. The extensive research and continued efforts by national and provincial agricultural scientists over the last few decades, Pakistan has achieved great improvement in wheat yield; however it is still very low as compared to other wheat producing countries. Table 1 depicts that Pakistan has an average area under wheat cultivation of 8176 thousand hectares, total production of 19767 thousand tons and average yield of 2418 Kg per hectare. Pakistan ranks 9th