Spirit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization injects a new momentum into Pakistan’s Agricultural Modernization, China Economic Net (CEN) reported on Thursday.
“We learned not only advanced agricultural knowledge and techniques in China, but also the spirit of innovation and collaboration that makes agriculture a force for prosperity,” said a Pakistani trainee who returned from the SCO agricultural base in Yangling Demonstration Zone in Shaanxi province.
In July of this year, the first batch of 292 Pakistani agricultural trainees completed a 90-day training program in China and returned to Pakistan to begin practical work in their respective fields. Ali, a trainee who runs a farm in Pakistan, said that water scarcity is common on farms in Pakistan.
During his training in China, he saw Chinese farmers using drip irrigation technology to water crops while covering the cultivated land with plastic film. This not only saves water but also prevents diseases and controls weeds, which was entirely new to him. He plans to adopt this technology on his own farm and hopes it can be widely promoted in Pakistan.
In addition to inviting Pakistani agricultural talents to train in China, China has also established extensive connections with Pakistani universities, including Rawalpindi Women University, the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Sciences & Technology, and the University of Swat, further expanding the reach of bilateral agricultural cooperation.
Last month, when addressing a ceremony for the second batch of 300 students under the Prime Minister’s Initiative for Capacity Building of 1,000 Agricultural Graduates in China — a government-to-government program launched last year, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan’s progress was directly linked with the growth of its agriculture sector and Pakistan’s future prosperity was closely tied to strengthening its agrarian economy, which remains the backbone of the country.