By Wang Kai

 

 

GUJRANWALA, Mar. 14 (China Economic Net) - A serial field training for Pakistani canola farmers was inaugurated in Gujranwala, Punjab Monday.

 

On Nasir Cheema's dairy farm, farmers, seed distributors, and agricultural technicians gathered to learn about the cultivation and harvesting technology of hybrid canola.

 

The Field Day in Gujranwala is the first field training to Pakistan farmers that the company organizes. In the following weeks, about 50 such training sessions would be held for about five to ten thousand households in Pakistan.

 

The hybrid canola, with seeds provided by China's Wuhan Qingfa Hesheng Seed Company, is being planted on 80,000 hectares of land in Pakistan this year, particularly in Punjab and Sindh. At the beginning of next month, a bumper harvest is expected that will translate into tens of thousand of tons of edible oil, and a demonstration mechanized harvest will be staged with harvesters from China. 

 

"We enjoy higher yield from this hybrid variety HC-021C. It has much more branches as compared to other mustard or canola plants. I hope it will provide an average of 35 mounds per acre", canola farmer Nasir Cheema told China Economic Net (CEN).

 

"Its fertility period is 8-10 days shorter than others, and its lower heights make it more unlikely to be beaten down by strong wind", he added.

 

Director Zhou Xusheng of the Chinese seed company told CEN, "this event is part of our efforts to help local farmers increase production and reduce costs. In the next step, we'll develop the canola industrial chain through make-to-order (MTO) partnership with local refineries and farmers and by introducing China's advanced harvesting and pressing technologies".

 

From 2021 to 2022, Pakistan imported around $3.6 billion edible oil, accounting for 89% of nation's total supply. In the next year, the company aims for 130,000 tons of canola seeds, which will produce 49,000 tons of edible oil worth $80 million.