China-Pakistan cooperation yields benefits for growers

Two high-yield wheat varieties developed by Chinese and Pakistani scientists could be approved for commercial production in Pakistan as early as next year, said a lead researcher of the project.

The new varieties have strong resistance against yellow rust — a destructive crop disease widespread in Pakistan — and are expected to boost local wheat output by a large margin, said He Zhonghu, director of the China-Pakistan Joint Wheat Molecular Breeding International Lab. He is also a top wheat scientist at the Institute of Crop Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences as well as the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, a nonprofit research and training center headquartered in El Batan, Mexico.

"The crops are still being tested in experimental fields in Pakistan," he said, adding that the team is waiting for clearance from local authorities to mass produce the new varieties outside lab settings.

The Beijing-based Institute of Crop Sciences runs the lab in partnership with Pakistan's Quaid-i-Azam University and the National Agricultural Research Centre in the national capital Islamabad, through collaboration with the international maize and wheat center.

The lab was launched in March as part of a broader science and technology exchange program started by China to aid developing nations. It is tasked with testing and selecting Chinese germ plasm in Pakistan, training local scientists and researching new wheat varieties that can help boost the crop's yield in Pakistan.

Wheat is the most important food staple in Pakistan, but the crop's output per hectare is just half the level of that in China, experts said. The shortfall is due to a range of factors, such as the use of less-developed wheat varieties, insufficient application of fertilizers and pesticides, and a lack of mechanized farming, they added.

In recent years, progress in molecular breeding research has bolstered wheat yields in China — now a frontrunner in the field, said He, the wheat scientist.

The use and development of enhanced wheat varieties is the latest example of fruitful agricultural exchanges between the neighbors under the Belt and Road Initiative.