Edible oil is Pakistan’s largest food import commodity ranking third in the import list after petroleum products and machinery. Pakistan is dependent upon other countries to fulfill more than 80% edible oil requirement and spending a big amount of foreign exchange every year. The local production of edible oil is less than 20% of country’s requirements. The gap between production and consumption of edible oil is still increasing due to increase in population and increase in per capita consumption of edible oil in our daily diet. Directorate of Oilseeds, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad (Pakistan) is carrying out research activities to develop oilseed crop varieties/hybrids including Canola, Rapeseed, Mustard, Sunflower, Sesame and Soybean having better adaptability under the scenario of climate change. As an outcome of research activities, Directorate of Oilseeds evolved more than 30 varieties of above-mentioned oilseed crops which significantly played important role in enhancing provincial and national production of oilseeds. In recent years, ORI Faisalabad worked on enhanced pace and developed high yielding varieties of Canola i.e. Sandal Canola, Super Canola and AARI Canola. AARI Canola is the Pakistan’s 1st Canola version (00) variety in Mustard group and got much popularity among farmers due to short growing period, shattering tolerance and high omega-3 oil. With the collaborative efforts of Directorate of Oilseeds and other stake holders, especially Agriculture extension wing, the farming community was inspired to grow oilseed crops which significantly enhanced crop area in the province. Use of quality seed of better oilseed varieties and adoption of appropriate production technology also enhanced the average per acre production of oilseed crops during last two years. However, mechanization in cultivation of oilseed crops can further accelerate the growth of oilseeds sector.
