Sino-Pak cooperation ensuring availability of fertilizer in Pakistan

BEIJING: China and Pakistan can explore more cooperation to ensure the supply of fertilizer to the farmers for various crops in Pakistan.

At the beginning of this year, the Pakistani government approved the import of 50,000 tonnes of urea from China on immediate basis, at a price lower than the current international level. Besides import and export trade, the two countries can explore more cooperation in fertilizer.S Li Guang, Secretary-General of China Phosphate and Compound Fertilizer Industry Association told China “The type and dosage of fertilizers used should be set according to local conditions and crop characteristics. Farmers should not only know the amount of fertilizer to be used, but also understand why they should use it that way,” The saying “no pains, no gains” is not for applying fertilizer, and the overuse of fertilizer will bring about resource waste and environment damage.

Reasonable use of fertilizer can reduce cost and decrease waste for farmers, achieving “twice the result with half the effort”. Besides, improving planting method can save the amount of fertilizer to be used on unit area too. Intercropping is a good choice.

“This is strawberry-onion intercropping. In the late stage of strawberry planting, onion seedlings are sowed. Onion can secrete some bactericidal substances during its growth, which has the best effect on improving the soil conditions for strawberry.

In addition, potassium fertilizer will also be used for strawberry to improve the sweetness of strawberry fruit. Ordinary onions are spicy, but the intercropped onions are sweetened by absorbing the fertilizer for strawberry, which taste great and unique,” Zhu Ning from Agricultural Technology Extension Station of Changping District, Beijing,

Some new fertilizers like organic fertilizer and water-soluble fertilizer are also worth attention. Compared with traditional fertilizers, new fertilizers have the characteristics of high efficiency, compound and slow-release.

“In the early stage of planting, some organic fertilizers, such as chicken manure and sheep manure, will be added to make the soil looser and rich in more organic matter. In the late stage of planting, more water-soluble fertilizers will be used for topdressing. In addition, in recent years, growers and consumers have more demands on the taste and quality of strawberries.

Therefore, some fertilizers such as seaweed fertilizer, fish protein fertilizer and Huangpu acid fertilizer are being used to improve the fruit quality,” Zhu Ning added.

“Based on the current experience, the final demand is new fertilizers, not just the superposition of basic fertilizers. A complete set of solutions should be provided in accordance with the local environment, plant types, etc. Through fertilizer products, it will be much simpler for farmers to improve the nutrition for the plants during the whole process,”Li Guang said.

Chinese fertilizer companies are looking forward to explore more cooperation possibilities to ensure supply of fertilizers to farmers for crops in Pakistan.

“We also do research on soil conditioners. Next, we are planning to introduce fertilizer and soil conditioners to Pakistan. We will also bring our field management cultivation mode including how to better raise seedlings, to Pakistan to carry out more cooperation,” Qi Liying, Executive Deputy General Manager of Tianjin Tianlongzaitian Agricultural Science and Technology Co., Ltd. said.

Data shows that the cultivated land area in Pakistan has increased by two million hectares in the past two years, and 2021 is the year with the highest urea sales in Pakistan’s history. It is predicted that if the supply of urea cannot be guaranteed, the annual wheat yield in Pakistan may decrease by 5% to 10%. Adding to this, The first shipment of Pakistani mangoes of the present season arrived last night in Kunming, capital city of China’s South-Western Yunnan province, said Adnan Hafeez, Director of Imperial Ventures (Pvt) Ltd.

The shipment comprising 2.3 tons of “Sindhri” variety was transported via air cargo from Pakistan to China.

The Pakistani “king of fruits” will be sold in the market after custom clearance and necessary certifications by the relevant Chinese authorities, he added.

Adnan said that quality control is the keyword of this year’s mango export. This time, half of mango will be sent to Chinese wholesalers and retailers as samples.

“We have already got connected with some big supermarkets and e-commerce platforms in China, including Walmart, JD.com and FreshHema.

“The Farm’s Choic’ an indigenous premium fruit brand operation by Imperial Ventures Private Limited has been extensively working on promotion and marketing of Pakistani Mango in China since last six years and has seen positive growth trend.

He said, this year, the expected export of mangoes from Pakistan to China is set to touch 100 tons which is almost 100% increase from last year but the recent wave of Covid-19 pandemic in China could affect the outcome.

“Considering China’s large population, I believe that China will be one of the largest markets for Pakistan’s mango in the coming five to ten years. I will work continuously to explore the Chinese market,” he added.

Adnan looks forward to all relevant departments to provide close coordination and all possible support to increase export of mango to China.

To a question, he said that many Chinese people prefer mangoes imported from South Asian counties especially Pakistan because of its pulp and taste.

The Chinese consumers have also an emotional attachment to the Pakistani products including mangoes in wake of the all-weather friendship between Pakistan and China, he added.