I have had the considerable good luck to visit China with national and international organisations but the valuable insight into China that one gained on official visits with the Pakistani delegation provided an exponential experience into their economic working, their agriculture foresight and their political system. President Hu Jintao was then at the helm of affairs.
Western technologists are always warying of China and one found that the propaganda machine always sought to denigrate the Chinese development model. What one saw was totally different from what one read and heard from Western people and print and electronic media. One such occasion was when the then Finance Minister Sartaj Aziz hosted a dinner for Dr Norman Borlaug accredited with the green revolution and the use of chemicals in agriculture. Ironically his own country, the US, is now moving towards organic agriculture for a variety of reasons. That evening was memorable in the sense that a very lively debate took place as to whether China will survive or will it suffer famine. Dr Borlaug was of the opinion that China will suffer the consequences of its actions and would not be able to feed its populations. Some of us at the dinner took the opposite view. China has not suffered famine and has been able to feed its populations and in fact what I saw was completely different model from the ones that the West utilised in its development process.
What has China done to change the model of the West to the wisdom of the East? China refuses to accept anything from the West as given. It then assumed the power of reason to take matter to the farmers. Unlike Pakistan, China has honoured its agricultural heroes not sham ones but real ones. One of the important factors one learnt in China was that no one took credit for anything positive but those that failed in the discharge of their duties were taken to task. The visits to China were entirely in the rural areas. It was an experience that is difficult to state. Simply stated the Gobi Desert is no longer available and it is now a rice and cotton growing area. You will be right in challenging the statement but rice in the Gobi Desert is now on drip irrigation.
How did they help Pakistan simply by working in tandem with Pakistanis? It is surprising that we have about 100-odd MoUs with China and yet only, barring those with the military, six with the PARC were implemented. After the change in leadership that was also called off. During that period they came in to help with coarse rice but we are what we are. The snooty personnel from Sindh wanted none of it. Despite this they worked in Sindh research station. They faced in the process a lot of difficulties. While we were still toiling with this breakthrough they went into a doubling this productivity of 15 tons per hectare. In cotton they worked with our technologists and developed hybrids that are now working in the system. Cotton was successfully tested in Potohar region, Malakand, DI Khan and Swabi. The ball weight was double that of the cotton grown in Seraiki belt and Sindh. I have grown it in Potohar at Rawat. One of the farmers has grown it in the Simly dam area – village Begowal to be precise. The features were that the cotton was of 110 days, was thermostat free (neutral to temperatures) and can be grown at any time and anywhere.
A Western MNC was at the same time toting cotton BT which was an eleven-month crop, and was supposed to free one of the seven pests that could attack the crop. What good was that? Our not bounded agriculture was such that we used a different approach. For sucking pests we had a particular flower for deterrence. For whitefly we had a particular color plant to act as a deterrent. The agronomic practices were changed and instead of having 45,000 plants to an acre it was suggested to have 100,000 plants to an acre. The results were fantastic with yields over 100 maunds to an acre.
In the meantime, with the change in leadership at the official research station thanks to the bigotry of some, the Chinese refused to work with the official research station and instead worked for a private NGO. They were astounded in Pakistan to see that the sugarcane crop was given water eighteen times. The yield was on average 3 tons per hectare (roughly 2.5 acres to a hectare). The concept they had was to give no water to the sugarcane and let it live on Nature’s moisture. Well, that was done. The sucrose content when checked was 17% (as the Chinese had predicted). The yield could not be checked because the recalcitrant Pakistani did not go in for that mush area. The little that was sown proves the Chinese right. They also provided us with a gene material that was tolerant to saline water. That gene was sent to the salt range where it is doing well. Charged with this success they came back and they are now growing Cotton, maize, millet and sugarcane. Howzzat for technology.
The sugar research station that the Pakistani delegation visited was in a three-storey building. The surprising part that the Chinese had captured was the art of moving from the particular to the general and vice versa. Similarly when I wanted to see a plant nursery they took me to an eleven-storey building which was the nursery as well as the market with thousands of shops. China in its own unique way had developed a competitive system so germane to the capitalist form of economics. The West will be steamrolled by China. It is the second largest economy after the US and the first amongst the trading countries of the world. It is only a matter of time. On one occasion they were questioned as to how they were growing prawns in the coldest parts of China? They showed me how. I have been trying to pass this to the leaders but leaders are generally blind in the ears and deaf in the eyes, according to a well known priest.
The human intellect has been made moronic by the West. Under the garb of helping they really place a knife in your back. They want you where you are- living a life of perpetual hunger and strife. It suits them better. Our leaders are petty when it comes to understanding what is happening and what the future of our country would be like. The elite live well, better than the best in the West. So why upset the apple cart?
Elections or no elections the end result would be the same. Ever heard of narcissism in politics? It can be seen here and the self patting would go on till they are at each other’s throat. Photo sessions and what not? TV is full of it. Please go gracefully if you have to. My ears are suffering as a result of hearing five years. What more? China can teach. So try and learn.
Dr. Zafar Altaf, "China can teach," Business recorder. 2013-03-16.Keywords: