NARC Faces the Heat Over Theft of High-Yield Garlic Seeds Worth Rs. 1.3 Million

The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Food Security’s session on Monday extensively discussed the theft of hybrid garlic seeds worth Rs. 1.3 million from the National Agriculture Research Center (NARC).

The theft of 264 kilograms of hybrid garlic (seed) took place last month, weeks before the garlic growing season that starts in October.

The heist has shaken the agriculture department as the scientists were preparing to sell the highest-yield garlic variety in the market that could bridge the demand and supply gap.

Taking up the matter in today’s meeting, the committee chairman, Rao Ajmal, lashed out at the Director-General NARC, an offshoot of Pakistan Agriculture Research Center (PARC), over the negligence, and asked him to explain the theft of such a massive amount of garlic seed from under his nose.

“When the seeds were stolen, their market price was Rs. 500 per kg. They are now being sold at a price of Rs. 3000 to 4000 in black,” he said.

The committee chair asked if NARC had any record of the garlic yield, and sought a detailed report into the incident by the next session.

Note that the garlic variety, ‘NARC-G1’, which was stolen last week, is told to be the top-quality among all the existing garlic variants in the country.


  • Government should invest atleast 100 million in these seeds and give them free as well so prices come down and exports increase


  • Get Alerts

    Follow ProPakistani to get latest news and updates.


    ProPakistani Community

    Join the groups below to get latest news and updates.



    >