Beijing hybrid wheat benchmark of Pak-China agricultural cooperation

ISLAMABAD: Beijing hybrid wheat promoted in Pakistan was going to become a benchmark project for agricultural cooperation under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), says a report published by Gwadar Pro on Monday.

In the context of Sino-Pak cooperation in the agriculture sector, China’s Guard Agri. Company last week sent a letter to Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, stating that they are looking for further cooperation particularly on an expanding its planting area in 2020-2021.

This project not only benefits Pakistani enterprises but would also alleviate food crisis in the country. “Therefore, we are enthusiastically seeking cooperation, hoping that China would provide seeds to support the plantation of Beijing hybrid wheat in 2020-2021,” the letter said.

Dr. Zhang Shengquan, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences/ Beijing Hybrid Wheat Engineering and Technology Research Center told Gwadar Pro that this year, China will also support the promotion of Beijing hybrid wheat in Pakistan, and provide adequate seeds as well. If the experiment goes well, the hybrid wheat will come onto the Pakistani market on a large-scale next year.

Through a long-term research and experiment, over 120 hybridized combinations and more than 230 pilot projects, comparing with domestic breed, Beijing hybrid wheat has created a 24.4% average increase of yield.

Beijing hybrid wheat gained another good harvest in Pakistan pilot site in the crown of the year 2019-2020. It is reported that for the same planting area, Beijing hybrid wheat yields 20% more than the best breed in Pakistan, by sowing seeds that are 90% less than the latter.