Pakistan may achieve autarky with China’s hybrid wheat

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Under the guidance of the Belt and Road Initiative, the research and cooperation between Pakistan and China in research of hybrid wheat has been continuously promoted. The achievements will not only benefit the farmers in Pakistan, but also open up a new path for China's agricultural science and technology to go global. 

Recently, at the Peshawar Agricultural University, a scientist informed media that since last year, he planted hybrid wheat from China in his own home. The effect was unexpectedly good. 

"After starting to grow hybrid wheat, I found that the yield of hybrid wheat was more than doubled, so was his income. I am very happy because I can send the children to school. I will advise my relatives and friends to plant hybrid wheat,” he was quoted as saying. 

At present, 44% of the arable land in Pakistan is used to grow wheat, and the Naan Pakistanis eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner, are made of wheat, wheat. Production is related to food security throughout the country.

However, Pakistan's wheat monoculture production is below the world average, and Pakistani agricultural scientists have been trying to introduce higher yield wheat varieties. 

In 2016, the experts from Peshawar Agricultural University learned that the application technology of the hybrid wheat developed by the Beijing Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences was in the forefront of the world, and actively sought the Beijing Hybrid Wheat Engineering Technology Research Center under the Beijing Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences to request cooperation. 

Muhammad Arif, a professor of agronomy at Peshawar Agricultural University, told reporters that the reason why Beijing hybrid wheat was chosen is because the technology of Beijing hybrid wheat is unique in the world. 

“The world is studying hybrid wheat, but so far no country had achieved such great success as China,” he declared. 

“Beijing Hybrid Wheat is a pioneer in the world of hybrid wheat technology, through which it is easy to mass produce hybrid wheat seeds without much labor. This technology is different from the world. The technology of other countries, this is a set of China's own technology system," he added. 

Since 2010, under the joint support of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing Municipality, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Pakistan Foundation Committee, the Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry/Beijing Hybrid Wheat Engineering Technology Research Center and the Sinochem Group, in cooperation with Wheat Seeds (Beijing) Company Limited, a hybrid wheat test base was established in Lahore and Peshawar, to create new hybrid wheat varieties suitable for Pakistani applications. 

At the same time, the Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences also specially built the Yunnan Yuanmou Hybrid Wheat Test Base to conduct simultaneous testing with the Pakistani side. After seven years of hard work, in 2017, the trials at Peshawar Agricultural University achieved remarkable results. 

Professor Arif said that if Beijing hybrid wheat is promoted to the whole of Pakistan, it will save a lot of cultivated land for the country.

“Pakistan planted more than 9 million hectares of wheat nationwide, with a total output of 26 million tons and an average yield of more than 2,700 kilograms per hectare. With the help of the team, Chinese hybrid wheat can easily reach 6,000 kg per hectare, which is more than twice that of our local production. If our target output value is 26 million tons of wheat, then we can save after the introduction of Chinese hybrid wheat. A large amount of land is used to grow other agricultural products,” he remarked. 

At present, Peshawar Agricultural University is conducting further experiments on hybrid wheat in Beijing. At the same time, Pakistan Jiade Agricultural Research and Services Company Limited is also involved in the demonstration and promotion of hybrid wheat in Beijing. 

As early as 1999, the company introduced Chinese hybrid rice and achieved large-scale industrialization in Pakistan. In 2012, Jiade Agricultural Research and Service Company Limited, which tasted the sweetness, signed an agreement with China Hybrid Wheat Seeds (Beijing) Company Limited to introduce Chinese hybrid wheat for market development in Pakistan. 

The company's president, Shahru Malik, said that Pakistan has benefited a lot from China's One Belt, One Road initiative and hopes that China-Pakistan agricultural cooperation can benefit both countries at the same time. 

“The Chinese government under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the Belt and Road initiative. Policies have been developed to help and promote seed planting in Pakistan, because in agriculture, the production of hybrid seeds and conventional seeds is the most valuable part of agriculture and the most expensive part because it requires huge imports and huge manpower. And efficient regulation. So I think China's policies are good for Pakistan. At the same time, we have fertile land and a suitable climate and good education level. I think these can help our country and China," he said. 

Zemir Awan, former Science and Technology Counselor of the Pakistani Embassy in China and now the Deputy Director of the China Studies Center of the National University of Science and Technology of Pakistan, is the promoter of the China-Pakistan Hybrid Wheat Cooperation Project and the continuous cooperation between China and Pakistan in the framework of the Belt and Road framework. 

“The One Belt, One Road is a Chinese dream, and it is also the dream of Pakistani people. It is not only beneficial to China, but also beneficial to the whole world. Any country joins the Belt and Road will live with greater prosperity.

China’s hybrid wheat production is high, and Pakistan hopes to increase production, which is beneficial to Pakistani farmers, beneficial to the country, and beneficial to our food security. Therefore, we hope to strengthen cooperation with China in wheat hybridization,”