Dr Babar Ijaz, the person in charge of overseas projects, Shandong Rainbow Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd, on Friday said most of the potato seeds in Pakistan were imported, hence the price of local high-quality seeds was expensive and unaffordable for many low-income farmers.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur tissue culture laboratory is committed to producing high-quality potatoes locally, reducing our dependence on foreign seeds,\u201d he said in an exclusive interview with China Economic Net (CEN).<\/p>\n
Potato is one of the rare cases in which Pakistan is not just self-sufficient for domestic use but also an exporter. Last year, floods have devastated many kinds of crops in Pakistan, while potato production soared to 7.937 million tonnes in FY22 from 5.873 million tonnes in FY21, up by 35 percent as floods did not hit Punjab, a hub of potato production. By contrast, Pakistan imports 20,000 tons of potato seeds every year.<\/p>\n
\u201cPotato is not a crop for poor people because its initial cost of production is high. 35-40 percent of the cost goes to seeds,\u201d said Syed Ijaz ul Hassan, Director of the Sahiwal Potato Research Institute. Facing such a status quo, Pakistani and Chinese enterprises have been working hard to find opportunities for cooperation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition to seed production, related potato by-products are also welcome Chinese invests. Besides mechanized harvesting, pest control is also full of opportunities,\u201d Dr Babar told CEN.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most common potato diseases in Pakistan include early blight, stem rot and so on. In contrast, Chinese varieties are more resistant to pests and diseases with higher yields, which is exactly what Pakistan needs to learn to improve our own potato germplasm,\u201d he highlighted.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs early as 2018, Rainbow had signed a memorandum of understanding with Pakistan\u2019s Beaconhouse Group. This year, most of our work that was delayed due to the epidemic began to accelerate,\u201d said Fan Changcheng, Deputy General Manager of Rainbow.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn order to build Pakistan\u2019s largest potato tissue culture lab, the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences has also invested in our plan. At present, a small-scale tissue culture facility of the first phase of the lab is under planning, with a goal of producing 500 mu (33.3 hectares), equivalent to about 1,500 tons of potato seeds, and the second phase will be expanded to 10,000 tons,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Fan said since Pakistan\u2019s potato seeds, currently, were dependent on imports, increasing the supply of local seeds can save precious foreign exchange reserves and increase the income of farmers. If Pakistan can realize the large-scale production of local high-quality potatoes, in addition to meeting domestic needs, it can also export products to other countries, such as Arab countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt present, Rainbow and Qatar\u2019s vegetable institutions also have in-depth cooperation. Such a long-term plan not only help Pakistan potato producers get rid of import dependence, but also earn foreign exchange,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
Echoing Fan\u2019s viewpoint, Dr Babar said, \u201cFirst of all, we must ensure the localized production of high-quality seeds, and at the same time improve planting technology and mechanization level. Then we might be able to export potatoes to other countries. We have a huge potential for countries that have smaller land areas or don\u2019t produce much of their own potatoes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dr Babar Ijaz, the person in charge of overseas projects, Shandong Rainbow Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd, on Friday said most of the potato seeds in Pakistan were imported, hence the price of local high-quality seeds was expensive and unaffordable for many low-income farmers. \u201cOur tissue culture laboratory is committed to producing high-quality potatoes locally, reducing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313256,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[21],"class_list":{"0":"post-317164","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-pak-china"},"yoast_head":"\n