China to help Pakistan in improving seed quality

BEIJING – Zhang Qin, Vice President of China Seed Association (CSA), has proposed inter-enterprise cooperation for seed industry between China and Pakistan.

Addressing a webinar themed China-Pakistan Agricultural Technology Cooperation and Prospects, she said the association had established communication and cooperation mechanisms with multinational counterparts, and organized member enterprises to visit Pakistan, Uzbekistan and other countries to promote seed industry exchanges and cooperation.

Touching on the China-Pakistan seed industry collaborative achievements, Zhang said China is a major agricultural seed producer and user, with a seed market value of CNY 100 billion. China is also actively promoting international cooperation in the seed industry and boosting the agricultural development of countries along the routes of the Belt and Road. Pakistan is an important agricultural partner of China.

According to calculations by the Pakistani research institute, the direct economic benefit per hectare of hybrid rice is 38 percent higher than that of conventional rice, which greatly boosted the agricultural development in Pakistan. Many of our member companies have also grown with the support of Pakistan to achieve a win-win situation, Zhang told the webinar.

“Our member company Longping Hi-Tech took the lead in investing and carrying out agricultural cooperation in Pakistan. The company has established R&D institutions for hybrid rice and corn in Pakistan and has pushed forward the integrated management of seed breeding locally,” Zhang said.

“The Winall Hi-Tech company I work for also attaches great importance to the win-win cooperation with Pakistan’s seed industry and has been committed to promoting the development of China-Pakistan agricultural cooperation since 2007. Last year, Winall and Wuhan-based Huazhong Agricultural University jointly launched an international cooperation class to recruit students from countries along the routes of the Belt and Road,” Zhang added. In the future, Zhang expressed her hope that the two countries would strengthen communication and cooperation of companies, industrial chains and seed management services.

Under the guidance of the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan and the Pakistani Embassy in China, the webinar was jointly organized by China Economic Net, the Institute of Peace and Diplomatic Studies and brought together nearly 300 participants from both China and Pakistan.