By Azeem Ahmed Khan

Pakistan has received 258 units of advanced agricultural machinery and irrigation equipment from China and trained 885 agricultural graduates under the Prime Minister’s Agriculture Modernisation Initiative, according to official documents of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, also available with Wealth Pakistan.

The initiative aims to transform Pakistan’s agriculture into a modern, technology-driven, climate-resilient and export-oriented sector by enhancing productivity, ensuring food security, promoting value addition and strengthening the competitiveness of the country’s agri-food system.

According to the documents, the modernisation push is built around innovation, mechanisation, digital technologies and strategic international partnerships. A strong policy foundation has also been established through the approval of the National Agricultural Biotechnology Policy 2026 and the National Seed Policy 2026.

These policies provide a framework for accelerating the development and commercialisation of improved crop varieties, promoting biotechnology and genome-based research, strengthening the national seed system, encouraging private-sector investment and improving access to climate-resilient and high-yielding varieties.

A key pillar of the initiative is collaboration between the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS). The prime minister accorded in-principle approval on March 17, 2026, for restructuring PARC along the lines of CAAS and constituted a dedicated Working Group to oversee the transformation.

The restructuring envisages the establishment of five Centres of Excellence at the National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad. These centres will focus on genome-based research in field and horticultural crops; genetic improvement and health management of livestock; climate-smart solutions for land, water and energy; artificial intelligence and technology in agri-food systems; and food processing, value addition and product development.

The documents say these centres are expected to strengthen national agricultural research, accelerate technology transfer and enhance productivity, climate resilience and export competitiveness.

Recognising mechanisation as a cornerstone of modernisation, the ministry is also planning to establish a Centre of Excellence for Advanced Agricultural Mechanisation and Digital Agriculture at PARC in collaboration with CAAS. The centre will serve as a national hub for research, development, adaptation, testing, demonstration, and commercialisation of precision agriculture, artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), drones, and climate-smart agricultural machinery.

As part of agricultural cooperation under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Pakistan received nine categories of advanced agricultural machinery, implements and irrigation equipment from China. The equipment was assembled by PARC’s Agricultural Engineering Institute at NARC and formally handed over on April 28, 2025, and subsequently distributed to PARC and provincial governments.

The package included 40 tractors, 20 rotary tillers, 30 rotary tillage fertiliser drills, 40 crawler-type rice-and-wheat combine harvesters, 8 corn harvesters, 40 inter-tillage weeders, 40 trimmers, 20 hose-reel irrigation systems, and 20 photovoltaic water-pumping systems.

Out of the total 258 units, 75 were distributed to Punjab, 45 to Sindh, 38 to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 36 to Balochistan and 64 to PARC.

Another major component of the initiative is the Prime Minister’s flagship programme to train 1,000 Pakistani agricultural graduates in China. So far, 885 graduates have completed specialised training, while the final cohort of 115 trainees is scheduled to depart shortly.

The training programme covers nine priority areas, including aquaculture, crop breeding and genomics, farm mechanisation, fruit and vegetable processing, high-efficiency irrigation systems, drones, artificial intelligence and IoT, livestock breeding and genomics, livestock disease surveillance, and seed production and processing technologies.

The trained graduates will serve as master trainers, transferring modern knowledge and technologies to farmers, extension services, researchers and educational institutions across Pakistan. The programme is expected to accelerate the adoption of hybrid seeds, precision agriculture, mechanisation, water-efficient technologies, and value-added processing, while fostering entrepreneurship and strengthening agricultural exports.

Credit: INP-WealthPk