China will assist Pakistan in producing embryos of high-milk yielding cows and chillies in setting up contract-farms growing high-yield chilis.
A high-level meeting of the China-Pakistan Joint Working Group (JWG) on agriculture put their heads together to discuss two important subjects — Cows and chilis. A little known but significant part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) agreement is boosting agricultural trade between the two countries. It has been a longstanding plan to bolster food security through CEPEC, but the plans to launch agricultural trade between China and Pakistan have long been in very nascent stages. In these initial stages, the first couple of projects to be announced were focused on milk and chilis. In June 2021, an initial pilot-project to test the feasibility of growing chilis in Pakistan with the intention of exporting them to China was successfully completed. Cows and chillies , The former head of the CPEC authority Lt General (R) Asim Saleem Bajwa had announced the experiment on 100 acres of land had been a great success, with initial estimates showing farmers could earn Rs 100,000 per acre.
More than a year later, work on both the livestock and agriculture has picked up pace steadily. At Tuesday’s meeting of the JWG, several investment initiatives were reviewed as part of the first batch of CPEC projects to boost agricultural trade and expand economic activities between the two countries. The concept is very simple. In Pakistan, there are a few critical problems that hamper agriculture, livestock, and all manner of produce. The specifics are usually things like poor seed quality, a lack of modern farming techniques, low-yield, and a lack of skilled farm labour. The solution to all of these problems is singular — research. Pakistan desperately needs more agricultural and livestock research to not just increase yields but also produce higher quality products that can be exported. That is where China comes in. Under the CPEC banner, the recent meeting of the JWG was organised between the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFS&R) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) of China. Cows and chillies . The goal was to not just discuss the progress of the fledgling projects that are in the process of taking off, but also to review areas for further strengthening bilateral cooperation in agriculture and livestock between the two countries.
Source: This news is originally published by profit.pakistantoday