WUHAN QINGFA-HESHENG SEED CO LTD: Striving for Agri Revolution

Exclusive Interview Conducted by Farooq Awan Photos by Ramzan Mughal Zhou Xusheng, Country Director Wuhan Qingfa-Hesheng Seed Co., Ltd., situated in Hi-Tech Bio-Agri Park, “China Seed Capital” Core Zone, Wuhan city, Hubei province, is a “High-tech enterprise” with ISO9001 certification. We analyze consumer demand, and strive to ways to meet that goal. Equipped with technology and skills, Qingfa’s outstanding breeders are committed to the selection and breeding of targeted new varieties and insisted to provide high-quality seeds and technical solutions for hybrid crops of rice, oil, watermelon & melons, vegetables, grass, and flowers for our clients. Adhering to the company motto “Quality, Innovation, Efficiency, Practicability”, we build an expert team with high-quality talents. Reliable technical service, good business reputation, valuable germplasm resources, international standard quality seed, and advance modern biotechnology are what we aim to achieve. Currently, it has operations in Asia, Africa, North and South America. Daily Times had an exclusive interview with Mr Zhou Xusheng, Country Director, Wuhan Qingfa-Hesheng Seed Co Ltd. Daily Times: Provide a detailed account of Wuhan Qingfa-Hesheng Seed Company project in Pakistan. How did the company enter into Pakistani market and what business opportunities the company sees in the Pakistan. Zhou Xusheng: In 2003, Qingfa established our “go abroad” strategy, aiming to promote our good-quality hybrid seeds globally, and at that time, Pakistan, being the seventh largest rice exporting country, came to our mind. Pakistan have wide agricultural land, however, its regular rice exporting variety has low yield and low quality. In 2004, Qingfa company founder and managing director, Ms. Xiaobo Zhu, came to Pakistan to visit local companies and to promote hybrid rice seeds. Out of 42 companies visited, 41 companies declined because of their lack of knowledge on hybrid rice. Only one company, HajiSons, agreed to try our company’s variety. Result turned out to be amazing, Qingfa’s variety were able to achieve 40% higher yield than local varieties. In 2006, Qingfa registered the first hybrid rice variety QY-0413 in Pakistan and held the first Hybrid Rice Field Day in Hydearabad. The commercialization of QY-0413 marks the success of commercialization of hybrid rice variety in Pakistan. More Chinese seed companies entered Pakistan market to cooperate with Pakistan seed companies. In 2007, during Qingfa’s discussion with local farmers, local seed companies, and local produce agents, we found out that a large portion of Pakistan edible oil consumption comes from imported edible oil. Since China already has advance technology on hybrid canola, Qingfa decided to team up with Certus Seed (Evyol Group). We did screening on local canola varieties to check for suitable varieties but none worked, and that made us to finally decide on start our own breeding project for canola, and we are aiming for great canola characteristics such as early maturing, lodging resistance, crack resistance, good quality, and high yield. We knew this was not an easy task and for the next 10 years, the breeding process went on with millions of dollars invested in this project. Finally in 2019, our variety, HC-021C, was approved by Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC). Just like the first hybrid rice variety we registered years ago, this new canola variety marks an new era for canola seed industry. HC-021C has great performance in Pakistan and testing reports from PARC and Ayub Research shows that this double-low Brassica Napus canola variety is able to achieve 10% higher oil content than local varieties and good oil quality. Daily Times: Despite being an agrarian country, Pakistan is far behind in agri technology. What is you observation/experience in this regard since you are directly linked with agricultural sector in Pakistan. Zhou Xusheng: Agriculture serves as the backbone of Pakistan’s economy. However, Pakistan lacks advance agricultural technology and local farmers sometimes do not completely grasp the whole idea behind those techniques. In addition, lack of professional experts results in farmers not getting enough guidance and help on their crops. Qingfa has demonstration sites as well as research centres in Punjab and Sindh, and we have Chinese professionals there year-round to engage with local companies and provide guidance, training and support. Qingfa has demonstration sites as well as research centres in Punjab and Sindh, and we have Chinese professionals there year-round to engage with local companies and provide guidance, training and support. Daily Times: Farmers in Pakistan are less educated and have no access to information about modern agricultural seed techniques. What steps your company has planned to educate farmers in Pakistan about high-yield seed varieties, especially in canola. Zhou Xusheng: As Chinese agricultural professional always say, “Good varieties and suitable techniques come together.” This saying basically means that in order to achieve high yield, we need not only good-quality seeds, but also suitable growth patterns and techniques. Qingfa, being a foreign seed company in Pakistan, firstly we need to learn from local farmers in Pakistan to understand their working patterns. Because understanding their tradition on farming helps us to build a foundation, and together with modern planting techniques, we are able to work out a whole, solid, and suitable farming process to eventually realize high yield. During promotion period, we engage with our local partners and do demonstrations. After demonstrations, opinions from locals will be heard and we adjust the process accordingly. Eventually a suitable process will be finalized and guidance will be given to local support team whom will pass to farmers. The success of promotion on our canola variety is a great example. We look at local farming ways and habits and decide on breeding characteristics. Together with Certus Seed, we set up demonstration sites, showing our idea of “Good varieties and suitable techniques come together.” Wherever our varieties go, our guidance and support will be provided there too. The success of promotion on our canola variety is a great example. We look at local farming ways and habits and decide on breeding characteristics.   Daily Times: Edible oil is one of the major components of Pakistan’s imports. Canola cultivation in Pakistan can help reduce dependence on imported edible oil. What steps do u think Pakistan’s government should take to promote crops like canola to make up for local oil demand. Zhou Xusheng: Punjab has already started government subsidy on farming good-quality canola. Our canola variety, HC-021C has been included in the list of government-subsidized oilseed crops in Punjab. Farmers who plant HC-021C can get the subsidy and market price for HC-021C is 500 Rupees (per 40 kilograms) higher than Raya and Mustard. Currently, only Punjab has the subsidy but imagine if other provinces start issuing subsidy on good-quality canola seeds, more farmers will be willing to participate and total acreage for growing canola will significantly improve. In addition, government can issue subsidy on small-scale oil presses where companies can set up in local villages, thus reducing costs. Consumers can therefore purchase local oil products and leftover canola meals can be used as local animal feeds, creating more value for local farmers. Our canola variety, HC-021C has been included in the list of government-subsidized oilseed crops in Punjab. Farmers who plant HC-021C can get the subsidy and market price for HC-021C is 500 Rupees (per 40 kilograms) higher than Raya and Mustard. On the consumer side, government can start nationwide advocate for healthy canola oil, have consumers understand the importance of consuming healthy edible oil. Increase in consumer demand will contribute to the growth this industry.   Daily Times: What other advanced seed varieties does your company plan to introduce n Pakistan except for canola. Zhou Xusheng: Going forwards, we are looking at oilseeds such as sesame seeds and sunflower seeds where they have high oil content and act as additions in oilseed industry. From the industry perspective, we will introduce related techniques and skills to benefit downstream value chain. We are aiming to establish a model of whole industrial chain to increase the competitiveness on Pakistan agricultural products. Going forwards, we are looking at oilseeds such as sesame seeds and sunflower seeds where they have high oil content and act as additions in oilseed industry. From the industry perspective, we will introduce related techniques and skills to benefit downstream value chain.   Daily Times: Good return of agricultural produce is one of the major problems of farmers in Pakistan. Do you have any strategy to facilitate farmers in exporting their high-quality products. Zhou Xusheng: Understanding quality standards and needs of importing countries is the first step. From there, we need standardization on the whole farming process from sow to harvest. It helps to maintain productivity and reliability on Pakistan agricultural products. Achieving that helps farmers gain competitiveness thus gain consumer confidence.