Sino-Pak wheat cooperation to enhance risk resistance in agri sector

Beijing: The Chinese team’s hybrid wheat demonstration fields in Pakistan have been maintained at about 3,000-5,000 hectares, extending from Peshawar and Islamabad in the north, Lahore in the center and Karachi in the south, said Prof Zhao Changping, Chief Scientist of Hybrid Wheat Research Institute, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences (BAAFS).

“It is true that we have only taken first step for a country’s wheat industry, but ensuring Pakistan’s food security through variety improvement is our long-term strategic task,” he added.

“Although hailstone is an occasional extreme weather that cannot be effectively resisted from the perspective of breeding, it can at least minimize the impact of disasters by promoting production and increasing yield,” said Prof Zhang Shengquan, Deputy Director of the Hybrid Wheat Research Institute of BAAFS.

“As for our selected hybrid wheat combinations, such as new variety BH1683 (Pakistani name: JM1683), have increased by more than 20 percent in Pakistan for three consecutive years. Even if the sowing amount was reduced by 80-90 percent, it still has the potential to increase yield by 20 percent.”

The declaration of Chinese team has echoed by Pakistani partner. “The single Chinese wheat varieties were not suitable for our hot weather and were also prone to diseases. Nevertheless, using the Pakistani wheat varieties as distant parent to cross with Chinese wheat, the varieties produced are more dominant and we got heterosis of more than 20 percent,” stated Dr Abdul Rasheed, Chief Research and Development at Guard Agricultural Research and Services Pvt. Ltd., an agricultural enterprise that has established a cooperative relationship with BAAFS since 2013.

“When talking about the breeding programme, it is learned that four promising hybrids have been selected, out of which two hybrids are being tested in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial yield trials, as well as for disease screening at Crop Disease Research Institute (CDRI), Islamabad.

“JM1683 is being grown in all over Punjab and some places of KP for commercial trials, with an increase in production by more than 20 percent compared with the average yield of common Pakistani wheat, to be precise, is around 2940 kg per hectare,” Dr Rasheed mentioned, with full of hope.

Pakistan, among the ten most vulnerable countries, bears the brunt of climate change, except for high seed and fertilizer prices, natural disasters such as floods, high temperatures and hailstones also make its “wheat revolution” more and more imminent.

“So far, we have established test stations in Peshawar, Lahore, and Yuanmou in Yunnan Province, which is very similar to Pakistan’s local climate. In recent years, we have had nearly 50 personnel exchanges with Pakistan, including professors, entrepreneurs and researchers from both sides,” Prof Zhao said.

“Progress on hybrid wheat is of vital importance to ensure the food security of Pakistan, South Asia, and even the whole world,” he added.