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Pakistan's The News reports that the Pakistani government has inked an agreement with China's Yuan Longping Agri-tech Company for the transfer of its hybrid rice technology during Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s visit to China. The article quotes Shahzad Malik, a leading rice exporter and the importer of certified hybrid seed in Pakistan, as saying, “The production of hybrid rice seed from China would usher Pakistan in a new era in rice production.”

According to Malik the area of hybrid rice production in Pakistan has increased from 971 acres in 2002 when it was first introduced to 17,714 acres in 2005 and 50,428 acres in 2006. Malik predicts that it will reach 857,143 acres by 2012, admitting that the entire production would be for export.

This latest agreement follows upon years of effort between the governments and companies of the two countries to produce a viable hybrid crop in Pakistan. In July 2006 we reported on the 16th official visit by Chinese hybrid rice scientists to the country. The Yuan Longping Company has in fact been conducting field trials of hybrid rice since at least 2001 and succeeded in getting one of its varieties approved for commercialisation in 2003. But the company has had little success with the variety so far and it is hard to see how this new technology transfer agreement might change things.

In the same article, The News reports that a US-based multination is now also trying trying to get its variety approved.

Pakistan: Deal inked for transfer of Yuan Lonping hybrid rice