Feature: Chinese canola crops transform Pakistan's cooking oil industry, boosts local economy

GUJRANWALA, Pakistan, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Irfan Javed, a cooking oil extraction machine owner in Pakistan's east Gujranwala district, saw a business boom when freshly harvested Chinese canola crops came onto the market and customers flocked to his shop to extract oil from the seeds.

"Initially, only the farmers who planted the Chinese canola visited here but gradually the number increased when people became aware of its health benefits and cost-effectiveness due to positive word of mouth," Javed told Xinhua.

Launched in 2013, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a corridor linking Pakistan's Gwadar Port with Kashgar in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which highlights energy, transport, and industrial cooperation in the first phase, while in the new phase expands to fields of agriculture and livelihood, among others.

Echoing the CPEC's cooperation in agriculture, Chinese company Wuhan Qingfa Hesheng Seed Co. Ltd and Pakistani company Evyol Group signed a memorandum of understanding in 2022 to produce a variety of Chinese hybrid canola and edible oil in Pakistan.

This was in order to decrease Pakistan's dependence on imported cooking oil, which has not only helped the country meet its edible oil demand but has also supported its foreign exchange reserves.

Now people purchase Chinese oilseeds directly from farmers and have their oil extracted by Javed. They utilize its oil for cooking purposes, as its taste closely resembles the edible oil commonly used in households.

Additionally, Javed himself acquires the seeds to extract oil and cater to the increasing number of customers. He said the oil content in the Chinese oilseeds is also high, as compared to other oilseeds available in the local market, which people prefer as it saves them money.

"From a 40 kg bag of other varieties of oilseed, only about 10 to 12 liters of oil are extracted, whereas the Chinese canola bag, available for 9,500 rupees (about 33 U.S. dollars) in the market, produces 14 to 16 liters of oil and about 20 kg of highly nutritious canola meal for cattle, which is sold in the market for about 4,000 rupees... it's a win-win deal," he added.

Pakistan's annual consumption of cooking oil is around 5 million tons, but due to the low economic potential of oilseeds in the local market, they are not preferred by the farmers. The country has to import about 89 percent of its oil to meet the demand, spending 3.6 billion dollars annually.

Dealers associated with oilseed distribution have said that the newly introduced variety has a high-profit margin for the farmers and, as such, it has become famous among local farmers just two years after its introduction in Pakistan.

Muhammad Rizwan, a seed distributor in Gujranwala, told Xinhua that the Chinese canola seed is resistant to diseases and has a higher yield than other previously available oilseed varieties on the market.

"Other oil seeds were sold for about 5,000 to 6,000 rupees per 40 kg on the market this year, whereas the Chinese canola was sold for up to 9,500 rupees, it also had a 20 percent to 30 percent higher yield than the other varieties," Rizwan explained.

"The seed is now a hot cake in the eyes of farmers in the Gujranwala district so we have placed a higher order than last year to the seed company to meet the demand in the next cultivation season in November this year," he added.

Last year, 11 tons of seeds were cultivated on 20,000 acres of land across the country, while this year 100 tons are expected to be cultivated due to a higher demand for the seed.

Housewife Saima Rizwan told Xinhua that she came to know about this oil six months ago from social media and how the oil extracted from Chinese canola is beneficial for health besides being cost-effective.

"I asked my husband to buy the oil and its taste was so good that we have never bought imported oil since. We cook all local dishes in the oil, and sometimes when we invite guests, they can't tell the food is cooked in canola oil rather than the commonly used palm oil," the 32-year-old told Xinhua.

Muhammad Azim, team leader of Eyvol group in Gujranwala, said that it was a bumper yield of canola this year compared to other crops, due to which farmers were very happy.

"It is a new beginning because farmers are making a good profit as consumption of locally produced oil increases," said Azim.

"As a next step, we will focus on local production of the seeds in Pakistani nurseries with the help of our Chinese friends to make the seeds more affordable for the local farmers," he said.