ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday invited a leading Chinese agricultural academy to take over the management of Pakistan’s main agriculture research center, calling the institution “dormant” and urging a Chinese-led overhaul to help modernize the country’s struggling farm sector.
The remarks came during Sharif’s visit to China, where Pakistan is seeking deeper cooperation with Beijing in agriculture, technology and industrial development under the next phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Agriculture remains the backbone of Pakistan’s economy, employing more than one-third of the workforce and contributing roughly a quarter of gross domestic product. But the sector has long struggled with low productivity, water shortages, outdated research systems, post-harvest losses and limited modernization compared to regional competitors.
“The Pakistan Agricultural Research Center, I have to say with a heavy heart, is dormant,” Sharif said during an address at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing after receiving an honorary professorship.
“And if we have to build our future, if we have to empower our youth and really transform our agriculture, then our research centers have to be revitalized and bring in fresh blood to promote research and development.”
Sharif made an appeal for Chinese institutional involvement in Pakistan’s agricultural research system.
“I would like to slightly remodel his articulation that we want your great academy not to take the lead role to transform our research center, but to lead this great initiative and take over the management of this institution through a mutual contract and on long-term basis, if not long-term basis, on medium-term basis,” he said.
The prime minister said Pakistan wanted Chinese support to introduce modern agricultural techniques, research practices and technology to improve productivity and strengthen food security.
Pakistan has increasingly turned to China for agricultural cooperation as Islamabad attempts to reform a sector vulnerable to climate shocks, declining yields, water stress and rapid population growth.
Sharif also announced plans to send another 1,000 Pakistani agriculture graduates to Chinese universities for advanced training.
The initiative follows an earlier batch of Pakistani agriculture graduates sent to China under a government-sponsored training program aimed at improving expertise in modern farming, irrigation, seed development and food security.
Sharif linked agricultural modernization directly to Pakistan’s broader economic future and to the next phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Beijing’s multibillion-dollar infrastructure and investment initiative in Pakistan that is now expanding beyond roads and power plants into sectors such as agriculture, technology and industrial development.
“Yesterday, my meeting with Chinese leadership, with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, were most productive,” the PM said.
“We have reiterated to accelerate CPEC 2.0, and under this framework, agriculture tops the list.”
The prime minister described agriculture as central to Pakistan’s long-term economic transformation despite growing focus on technology and artificial intelligence.
“Of course, IT, AI are tools in our hands of today and tomorrow,” he said.
“But if we have to holistically transform our economy, it is agriculture. It is agriculture and it is agriculture.”
