Minister of National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam said on Thursday that tropical agriculture was well developed in China and Pakistan could learn a lot from Chinese experience in order to promote and develop tropical fruits and agriculture in the country.
By Faizan Hashmi
He said there was a huge potential for bilateral cooperation in production, processing and value addition of tropical fruits such as banana, coconut, papaya and pineapple; tropical oil crops such as oil palm, and tropical bio-fuel crops such as King Grass.
He was optimistic for having enhanced G2G cooperation as well as joint ventures between private companies to enhance agricultural output and value addition of agricultural products for mutual benefit of both the countries.
The minister addressed an online workshop on “Tropical Agricultural S&T Cooperation” organized by the Chinese academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS) and University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, said a press release.
The event was attended by VCs of numerous universities, senior officials from Chinese Embassy Islamabad, scientists from universities, research organizations and representatives of chambers of commerce and industry.
Fakhar Imam said that this workshop was focusing on much important, but comparatively less focused area of tropical agriculture, specifically keeping in view the huge import bill of around US$3 billion, of palm oil in Pakistan.
He said that Pakistan and China enjoyed brotherly relations which were not only all-weather and time-tested, but are constantly moving on an ascending trajectory, and gaining strength with the passage of time.
He said that the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences was apex body for research and development on Tropical crops.
He thanked the CATAS and Chinese government for sharing king grass germplasm and production technology, which was a promising technology for producing biomass fuel; and also for executing the project on “Tropical Economic Palm Production Technology in Pakistan”.
Fakhar said that he believed that these initiatives would contribute to meet our food and energy requirements, and the overall development of Tropical Agriculture in Pakistan.
Originally published at Urdu point