China, Pakistan to step up cooperation on modern agriculture.

BEIJING -- In a move to promote China-Pakistan industry-university-research strategic cooperation on modern agriculture, a Document of Understanding (DoU) was signed between the National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan (NUST), Weifang Engineering Vocational College, Qingzhou Municipal Government and Weifang National Comprehensive Pilot Agriculture Zone last week at Weifang, China.

The four sides agreed to work together in promoting bilateral agricultural technology cooperation under the framework of CPEC, with a focus on the construction of the entire agricultural industry chain system, deep processing of agricultural products and related industrialization development, CEN reported.

Agriculture in the South Asian region is struggling with low productivity, supply shortfalls, low returns to farmers, lack of advanced technology, and lack of trained professionals and thus threatening our food security, Pro-Rector Academics of NUST Dr. Osman Hassan noted in his speech.

He said that currently, the NUST is actively conducting research including precision agriculture, multispectral sensing of crop fields, agricultural 3D printing and scanning applications, early detection of pathogens, and plant disease management.

Nevertheless, research on sustainable agricultural resource management systems remains a major challenge for us, and I sincerely believe that today's agreements will certainly play an indispensable role in filling these gaps."

Another conferee, Dr Hussain Ahmad Janjua, Principal, Atta-ur-Rahman School of Applied Biosciences (ASAB), NUST, also highlighted his viewpoint on practical measures, food processing, and preservation, a key area for both countries to deal with food security. To increase...