ISLAMABAD, Apr. 23 (INP): Pakistani and Chinese companies under a joint venture have engaged themselves to control Canola Crop losses. They have undertaken the task in the Bhakkar district of Punjab. Pakistan’s Evyol Group has demonstrated advanced harvester attachments aimed at controlling shattering losses in the canola crop, Gwadar Pro reported. Evyol Group provides high-quality canola seeds developed by China’s Wuhan Qingfa Hesheng Seed Co. to Pakistani farmers under a joint venture with the Chinese company. “Qingfa’s HC-021C canola has 0.7 percent Erucic Acid and 15 mm/gm Glucosinolate, much lower than the global standard of 2% and 30 mm/gm, respectively.  Therefore, the Chinese canola variety is dubbed as ‘00’ for having the least hazardous contents,” Zafar Iqbal, Head of Certus Seeds, a division of Evyol, said during a presentation to farmers and journalists. He added that they observed shattering losses to the tune of 200-400 kilograms per acre. ‘We informed our Chinese JV partner, which sent these advanced attachments to control the losses,’ Zafar said. 

“The optimum yield of HC-021C is around 1500-1600 kgs (kilograms) per acre,” he mentioned. In the next phase, the Chinese partner will send small pressing machines to enable the farmers to extract canola oil at the household level, he informed. Iqbal said that Pakistan imports 4.4 million tons of edible oil worth around US $3.8 billion. The Chinese canola variety can bridge this gap and save precious foreign reserves for Pakistan besides increasing profitability for local farmers, he maintained. “We started selling the HC-021C seeds in 2019. So far, it is being cultivated on over 100,000 acres of land. Our target is 12.5 million acres to make Pakistan self-sufficient in edible oil,” he elaborated.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP) — Pak-China