CPAC project may bring socio-economic development for farmers in Pakistan: President PCJCCI

LAHORE: Moazzam Ghurki, President Pakistan China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) stated during a think tank session held at PCJCCI Secretariat on Friday that, the China-Pakistan Agricultural Corridor (CPAC) project would bring socio-economic development for farmers in Pakistan and further pave the way for a new era of collaboration between the two all-weather strategic partners.

He said that CPAC was a project of highly significance and would serve as a model for other countries in the region to emulate and reinforce the belief that cooperation and partnership could lead to significant achievements and benefits for all. China pledged to open up its markets for Pakistani agriculture products like rice, fish, facilitate Pakistan in the marketing of its Halal food products, also to provide modern agricultural technologies.

Fang Yulong, Senior Vice President PCJCCI said that the agriculture, in the South Asian countries, was struggling with low productivity, supply shortfalls, low returns to farmers, lack of advanced technology and trained professionals and thus threatening food security in the region. Addressing these issues will have a significant impact on people’s lives, particularly in Pakistan, as it is an agro-economic country with immense potential for crop production and research in agricultural sciences. He said that we are actively pursuing research on plant biotechnology, environmental sciences, agri-technology and agribusiness with emphasis on precision agriculture, multi-spectral sensing of crop fields, 3D printing and scanning applications, early detection of pathogens and effective plant disease management.

Hamza Khalid, Vice President PCJCCI said that we have signed Memorandum of Understanding with various Chinese companies to boost agriculture productivity in Pakistan. He added that such collaborations would enable to share resources, expertise and knowledge between China and Pakistan, and work together towards common goals of improving and promoting sustainable methodologies in agriculture sector.

Salahuddin Hanif, Secretary General PCJCCI added that we are planning to design joint application for projects in the field of agricultural sciences to work together for the social and economic development of the two countries.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023