China helping Pakistan cut oilseed imports.

BEIJING -- As Pakistan has been confronted with economic challenges especially after the massive countryside floods, with the shrinking foreign exchange reserves, the country's various imports are putting additional financial strain.

Statistics from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) show that in FY2021, Pakistan's imports of soya beans, whether or not broken, reached about $1.145 billion, strong growth of about 50% year-on-year, exhibiting the country's urgent demand for soybeans. However, in the first quarter of FY2023, Pakistan's soybean imports were $269 million, down about 18% year-on-year, which may have been affected by the decline of its foreign exchange reserves.

Soybean production should be adequately considered by Pakistan because of its over dependence on imports of soybeans, China Economic Net (CEN) reported.

"We are dependent on imports. It is very expensive which causes increase in the price of feed, oil etc. day by day. It is our need to plant it in our country," Hafiz Saad Bin Mustafa, Oilseed Scientist at the Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, said.

According to him, all crops in Pakistan were non-GMO except cotton. "Most foreign varieties that we import are of mild areas and GMO. They can neither be planted here nor can they survive here. So seeds of local varieties should be multiplied and should be promoted in the potential areas that we have identified by our trials and adaptability studies," Hafiz said.

He said since soybean was mostly cultivated in such countries as America, Brazil and Argentina where there was mild climate, Pakistan needed to develop its own non-GMO soybean verities that could perform well in high temperatures.

"We do not produce good quality seeds, and the total seed production is twenty percent in different crops. There is a huge gap. At present we are dependent on imported seeds for different crops even for wheat, rice, cotton, and vegetables, and the same is with soybeans. We should produce it locally," Dr. Zahir Ahmad, In-charge Soybean Breading Lab, University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF), said.

He said the farmer needed specific planters, harvesters, and threshers. "Mechanization is one of the best approaches by which we can increase soybean production. In this way, we need less labour, less time, and less storage time."

Talking about the latest progress of soybean production in Pakistan, Dr Zahir Ahmad emphasized that now their focus was intercropping-specific soybean promotion, which...