ISLAMABAD - A group of Chinese hybrid-rice researchers and experts along with local scientists under 'Travelling Rice Seminar' initiative had visited more than 100 rice fields and farms across the crop growing areas of the country.

They had also visited different research stations, agriculture universities and seed outlets of different companies to exploit the cultivation of hybrid rice in all four provinces of the country. The seminar was designed by Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and Chinese Yuan Longping High-tech Agriculture Company, said Programme Coordinator and Member Plant Science of PARC Dr Anjum Ali.

Talking to APP, he said that the experts had travelled in all the four ecological zones of the country including Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan in order to create awareness among growers about the cultivation of hybrid rice. This was a month long activity in which a group of hybrid rice researchers from China comprising on 12 scientists also trained the local scientists, seed producers and field extension departments of the provincial governments, he added.

He said that the main aim of this joint initiative was to enhance per acre crop productivity, increase profitability and produce surplus commodity for exports enhancement. In order to further enhance the local rice output Pakistan and China have decided to work together for conducting joint awareness programmes to adopt hybrid rice seeds, he added.

He informed that the Chinese scientists had trained 30 Pakistani agriculture scientists, selected from all the four provinces. Besides, he said that they will also impart training to the members of the provincial field extension departments on hybrid rice cultivation. In addition, he said that the activity will also help in capacity building of the local experts from all over the country in order to promote the hybrid rice techniques.

They had also organised road-shows and field visits across the rice-growing areas to address the issues and challenges in promotion of hybrid rice seed, he added. He further informed that the a revolutionary hybrid rice seed was recently developed by the Chinese researchers, which would help Pakistani farmers to enhance significantly their per acre yield.

The new developed rice seed variety would help to produce extra surplus, hence the country would be able to export more rice for exporting it to other countries, he added.