Pakistan is looking forward to cooperate with China on banana cultivation; China Economic Net (CEN) reported it on Wednesday.
” In China, banana has been cultivated since 2,000 years ago. We can progress and get benefit from each other,” Nosherwan Haider, CEO, Sprouts Biotech Laboratories, said in an interview with CEC.
Up till today, Sino-Pak cooperation on banana is still very limited. Lack of high-quality seeds, advanced cultivation technology and logistic facility remains a large obstacle to boosting banana production and exports in Pakistan, for which Pakistani researchers and farmers are looking forward to getting support from China. When it comes to planting technology, research on tissue culture of banana is being carried out in some labs in Pakistan. “The production of tissue culture banana is three times higher than that of our conventional banana. Conventional banana harvests in 16 to 18 months while our tissue culture banana fruits in the seventh month. However, as Nosherwan Haider sees it, in most areas of Pakistan, the growing of banana is not as per proper method, which makes banana production not as high as it should be. Pakistani researchers long for Chinese technologies that may help Pakistan further improve local banana yield. According to Ibrahim Nizamani, a Pakistani banana exporter, at present they are exporting bananas to Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. China, as a huge market in the world, definitely is a dream destination for Pakistan’s banana exports. But Pakistanis have difficulties in banana preservation and transportation.
“The post-harvest management system should be taught, like how to harvest bananas, how to pack bananas, and how to transfer bananas to markets. If we have a packing house or a cold storage system, the quality of bananas can be improved more,” Ibrahim Nizamani added.
Besides, they all expressed their desire for stable electricity supply to make research and guarantee banana quality during the whole process. We can benefit from China by getting some technologies related to agricultural practices and hybrid varieties.
China will also get benefit and we can export bananas to China through China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC),” Nosherwan Haider said.
Original Link: https://dailytimes.com.pk/1034073/pakistan-looks-forward-to-cooperating-with-china-on-banana-cultivation/