WUHAN, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- In the summer of 2003, Zhu Xiaobo, an agricultural technician from central China's Wuhan city, landed in Pakistan with two suitcases of hybrid rice seeds and an electronic dictionary that cannot produce sound.
She spoke little English, nor the regional language, Urdu, and of the 38 seed companies she had emailed before her departure, only a family business run by Tahar Salimi in northeastern Pakistan's Lahore did not brush her off.
After three days of fruitless door-knocking visits, Zhu climbed into the car of Salimi, a man she barely knew, and took a six-hour drive to his farm. "We could not understand each other at that time," she recalled.
Unable to explain what hybrid rice was, Zhu sketched out the growing process: sowing, transplanting, fertilizing and harvesting. Salimi's brother, a farmer-turned-businessman, scrutinized the drawings and nodded. But by then, the sowing season had all but ended.
"I kept telling him, 'You must plant them. If you plant them, there is still hope,'" said Zhu, now general manager of Wuhan Qingfa Hesheng Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. Moved by her courage, Salimi decided to try the hybrid rice.
Even after Zhu's return, she emailed Salimi frequently, reminding him when to apply fertilizer and pesticide, and how to look after the paddy.
The gamble paid off. Yields came in 40 percent to 50 percent higher than those of many local varieties, and experts from Pakistan's rice research center described the panicles as "a huge surprise."
The partnership later registered Pakistan's first commercialized hybrid rice variety, QY0413, drawing in a host of Chinese seed companies.
According to Zhu, Chinese seeds now account for over 90 percent of Pakistan's hybrid rice seed market, and Pakistan has risen to become the fourth-largest rice exporter in the world. Hundreds of thousands of farmers also saw their incomes grow.
Since 2010, the firm has sent staff members to Pakistan, training farmers in everything from seed soaking to pest control. Among them is Su Zhongxiang, formerly deputy director of an agricultural research institute in Hubei, China's major rice-producing province.
"Selling seeds is not enough," Su said. "We should also provide after-sales services, going directly into farmers' fields and solving problems."
In 2007, Zhu's team turned its attention to rapeseed, aiming to cut Pakistan's reliance on imported edible oil. Pakistan imports most of its cooking oil, largely palm oil from Southeast Asia.
Developing suitable rapeseed varieties proved far harder than breeding rice. Pakistan has a warmer climate, which causes crops to mature very fast. "The plants look great, but you get empty seed pods after harvest," Zhu said.
After repeated failures in more than a decade, the company successfully registered a new variety of rapeseed in 2019.
For Zhu, agricultural cooperation requires more than simply applying Chinese planting methods overseas. "Technology, services, and management must all be localized," she said.
As the two countries mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations, younger generations are injecting fresh blood into the relay of China-Pakistan agricultural cooperation.
Zhang Ao, a 23-year-old molecular biology master's graduate, spent more than two months visiting farms in Pakistan's Lahore, Gujranwala, and Multan shortly after joining Qingfa Hesheng. He studied how Chinese crop varieties performed under local soil and climatic conditions.
The experience taught him what international agricultural cooperation means. "People there were very friendly to Chinese," Zhang said. "You are not only representing yourself, but also your country."
During his stay, Zhang met local people his age, who were eager to talk about artificial intelligence, Chinese electric vehicles, and technological development. "They talked with me about DeepSeek and BYD," Zhang said. "And they see 'made in China' as a label for affordable, good-quality goods."
For Zhu, exchanges such as these are what make agricultural cooperation meaningful. Gesturing toward a company slogan on the wall, Zhu said, "One seed can change the world. I have no doubt about it." ■
