MoU inked to empower flaxseed research.

LANZHOU -- Recently, the Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences (GAAS) and Sindh Agricultural University (SAU) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the China-Pakistan flax research and innovation hub.

'Our new flax varieties, the Longya series, are all selected according to the dry climatic conditions with little rainfall in Northwest China. In the planting experiments, the yield is generally more than 10% higher than that of the local varieties, and the resistance to diseases and insect pests is stronger,' Zhao Wei, Researcher at the Crop Research Institute of GAAS, said in an interview with the China Economic Net (CEN).

Longya No 11, 14 and 15 have been planted in Pakistan preliminarily. The Longya series should be able to exert a good effect of drought resistance and increase yield under the climatic conditions of Pakistan, he stressed.

'It is a variety most Pakistani farmers are not familiar with but it can produce edible oil much needed in the country,' Project Leader Dr Abdul Ghaffar Shar, a doctoral candidate of Northwest A and F University who has been studying in China for nine years, told the CEN, adding that experiment had started at SAU, Tandojam.

'Flaxseed contains 35-44% oil. The seed oil, rich in unsaturated fatty acids mainly linolenic acid, serves as a nutritional supplement, in addition to its huge role in coatings, textiles and animal husbandry. Flax is a promising economic crop.'

According to Shar, the average production of flaxseed in Pakistan is as low as 692 kg per hectare because of less soil fertility, blind use of fertilisers, lack of high-yielding hybrid varieties and old cultivation practices.

Looking into the importance of edible oil and low...