Pakistan plans agricultural research overhaul with Chinese support

China’s technical cooperation is set to play a key role in Pakistan’s planned overhaul of its agricultural research system, including the development of five specialised Centres of Excellence, internationally accredited laboratories and stronger regional research centres.

The restructuring of the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) is being undertaken under the broader initiative, “Reimagining Agricultural Research in Pakistan,” aimed at transforming the council into a leaner, performance-driven organisation with research infrastructure more closely aligned with food security, climate resilience and export growth.

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According to documents available with Wealth Pakistan, PARC is pursuing institutional affiliation with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) to draw on Chinese expertise in research management, advanced research facilities and human resource development.

A major component of the plan is the establishment of five thematic Centres of Excellence at the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) in Islamabad. Rather than creating new standalone institutions, existing NARC facilities will be upgraded and modernised with technical input from CAAS.

The proposed centres will focus on genome-based research in field and horticultural crops; genetic improvement and health management of livestock; climate-smart solutions for land, water and energy; artificial intelligence and technology in agri-food systems; and food processing and value addition.

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Five sub-working groups, with focal persons from NARC, have been constituted to advance technical cooperation for each Centre of Excellence, organising collaboration around specific research areas.

Alongside research modernisation, the restructuring seeks to strengthen Pakistan’s agricultural export compliance system by addressing gaps in internationally recognised testing and certification.

According to the documents, Pakistani agricultural exports regularly face rejection because domestic test reports and certificates are not recognised in importing markets.

To address the issue, PARC plans an integrated project to establish state-of-the-art, internationally accredited laboratory infrastructure at NARC, Islamabad, with funding to be provided by the Export Development Fund.

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The proposed laboratories will be developed in accordance with ISO/IEC 17025:2017, with recognition from ISTA, WOAH and IPPC/EPPO where applicable. The objective is to enable Pakistan to issue internationally accepted test reports as well as phytosanitary, food safety and veterinary certificates through a single national hub.

The laboratory infrastructure will cover veterinary export testing; soil, water and fertiliser testing; seed quality testing; food quality testing; food composition and authenticity; pesticide residue compliance; plant health diagnostics; and DNA fingerprinting.

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The reform programme also envisages rationalising PARC’s institutional structure by merging overlapping institutes. Each institute is being assessed against two main criteria — alignment with national priorities and performance — with low-performing or overlapping entities to be merged, restructured or phased out.

Under the plan, PARC’s existing 10 regional research establishments will be consolidated into four stronger agro-ecology-based research centres: the Tropical Agricultural Research Centre in Karachi, Dryland Agricultural Research Centre in Quetta, Mountain Agricultural Research Centre in Gilgit and Arid Zone Research Institute in D.I. Khan.

The restructuring follows a visit by a high-level delegation from China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and CAAS in September 2025 at the invitation of Pakistan’s Ministry of National Food Security and Research. The delegation assessed PARC, NARC and affiliated institutes.

The assessment found that despite the system’s strategic potential, agricultural research was constrained by chronic underinvestment, fragmented incentives and duplication of effort between federal and provincial bodies. It concluded that deeper structural reforms were required to meet the demands of modern agriculture.

A comprehensive plan to revamp and restructure PARC was subsequently presented to the Prime Minister on March 17, 2026, and approved.

The Coordinator to the Prime Minister on Agriculture and Food Security is monitoring implementation of the restructuring plan.

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