KARACHI: University of Karachi’s (KU) International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS) in collaboration with the China National Rice Research Institute (CNRRI) recently inaugurated SINO-Pak Hybrid Rice Research Center (SPHRRC) in China’s city Hangzhou, it was learnt on Thursday.
The purpose of the centre is to attempt to carry out quality research and development for having different kinds of quality rice through crossbreeding.
Higher Education Commission former chairman Dr Atta-ur-Rahman China’s Federal Minister for Science and Technology Dr Peisong Hu and General China National Rice Research Institute (CNNRI) deputy director inaugurated the centre.
ICCBS Director Dr Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary and China’s Department of International Cooperation (Division of Asian, Americans and Multilateral Affairs) Director Lu Yexin also attended the inauguration ceremony.
It is pertinent to mention here that according to the bilateral agreement between the two institutes, two branches SPHRRC had to be established in total, one in Pakistan and the other in China.
It is also worth mentioning here that the branch of the SPHRRC in Pakistan has already been opened at the ICCBS, last year.
The ICCBS officials said that the centre is the first hybrid rice research centre of Pakistan established in collaboration with CNNRI with the objectives that it will provide suitable numbers of hybrid rice seeds varieties for testing at different locations in Sindh and other climatic zones of Pakistan during the next two years to Pakistan.
The centre will also facilitate the field trials process of these verities of hybrid rice in Pakistan and train young Pakistani researchers in the field of agriculture so that they can effectively utilize the modern agriculture techniques to improve their local rice verities, it was said.
