China’s rise offers lessons for strengthening Pakistan’s agro-economy amid Pakistan’s agricultural paradox. Pakistan, a nation that depends greatly on agriculture, ironically finds itself battling a recurring problem: food insecurity. Following the devastating floods, political instability, mounting financial crisis, and social imbalances, growing food insecurity is posing a significant threat to Pakistan. In the dynamic realm of agricultural development, the phoenix of Chinese economic development rose from an agrarian society to a global economic powerhouse. As China’s agricultural policies created an uprising from the shadows of prior difficulties, they showed a path lined with lessons that strongly resonated with Pakistan’s struggle to strengthen its agro-economy. Now the question arises: how can Pakistan make use of this All-weather friendship with China to resurrect its agricultural sector?

Once a poverty-stricken country, China is now the world’s second-largest economy, leading the world in the 21st century. Adopting the top leadership position of the Communist Party in 1978, Dan Xiaoping followed a series of reforms to recover from the failures of the Great Leap Forward, which caused the Great Chinese famine. Deng Xiaoping’s initial focus was on reforming agriculture as China faced imminent famine. This change laid the groundwork for China’s growth trajectory by increasing agricultural output, raising living standards, and stimulating rural industry. Through technological advancement, China’s agricultural power increased over time, enabling self-sufficiency for its 1.4 billion people and excess exports, as seen by a continuous increase in grain production over a three-decade period.

Despite being an agrarian country, the agricultural sector of Pakistan is not capable of controlling the growing food insecurity. The agricultural industry in Pakistan has the potential to be the state’s economic engine but the sector only makes up 24% of Pakistan’s GDP, and its true potential remains untapped. The lack of modern technological advancements, low investment, poor management, climate change, and insufficient training facilities for relevant stakeholders, including farmers all contribute to the poor performance of the agriculture sector in Pakistan.

Irrigation is the backbone of agriculture in Pakistan, but traditional irrigation methods and water scarcity represent the challenges faced by the irrigation system. Pakistan may learn from the neighboring country, China which has adopted modern irrigation methods, and controlled food insecurity. China has implemented a variety of irrigation techniques with success, including conventional surface irrigation, contemporary drip and sprinkler irrigation, and water-saving technology. Pakistan can pursue a comparable strategy to match irrigation techniques with the unique requirements of crops, soil types, and water availability in various places. Since China has been supplying other nations with drip irrigation systems in recent years, Pakistan can adopt this technique to revive its struggling irrigation system.

The devastating impacts of climate change in the form of flooding, droughts, and extreme change in weather patterns have already damaged the agricultural system of Pakistan. Pakistan is not a major contributor to the world’s greenhouse gas emissions but the use of traditional agricultural practices in Pakistan is not climate-friendly. China, whose socio-economic development relies heavily on the agriculture sector, has adopted a futuristic approach. Pakistan can also implement these Climate-Smart Agriculture techniques to combat the drastic effects of climate change on agriculture.

China has been experimenting with techniques like agroforestry, renewable energy integration, weather forecasting systems, and conservative agriculture to reduce environmental impacts on food security. Pakistan should learn from these advanced techniques and reconstruct the agricultural sector. The inter-culture of trees and crops known as Agroforestry is essential for profitable farming in Pakistan. Experts have called for the promotion of agroforestry to protect oak and deodar forests in Chitral. Climate-smart crop and livestock management can help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the use of fertilizers and pesticides. To reduce the reliance on non-renewable energy sources and avoid the high level of carbon emissions, Pakistan can shift from conventional water pumping systems to solar-powered water pumping systems.

The multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) offers a framework through which China and Pakistan can strengthen their agricultural ties. Pakistan is increasingly seeking assistance from China to revitalize its agricultural sector and gain maximum benefit from CPEC. The collaboration between the two countries involves developing innovative farming methods, updating irrigation systems, and enhancing the value of food. To improve bilateral collaboration under the CPEC in the two sectors, China and Pakistan developed an online platform in January 2021 to gather and present data and accomplishments of their industrial and agricultural cooperation. Earlier, in September of last year, China promised to offer technical support for 13 large-scale agriculture projects in Pakistan.

Farmers are the innovators and backbone of any agricultural setup. China particularly focused on rural industry and farmers by teaching modern farming techniques, providing market-oriented agriculture, and raising awareness regarding evolving needs of the agriculture sector. Farmers in Pakistan are subjected to weak financial liquidity, poor agricultural marketing system, and lack of training. Given the current scenario, Pakistan should provide farmers with a liberalized market system for improving their living standards and ultimately enhancing the agricultural sector. Farmer field schools like China should be adopted to equip farmers with modern agricultural practices.

The experience of China’s agricultural policy offers various useful lessons for the agro-economy of Pakistan, providing a route towards sustainable growth, food security, and rural development. Pakistan may pave the path for a diverse and modern agricultural sector by carefully studying China’s successful practices, such as agricultural diversification, effective irrigation systems, climate-resilient crop types, and community engagement. The adoption of best practices from China’s agricultural journey can catalyze Pakistan’s agro-economic transformation. The government can draw inspiration from China and invest heavily in the agriculture sector to revive it.