LAHORE: A local agriculture research company claims to have harvested three-fold more yield from Chinese hyb­rid chilli varieties in successful cultivation projects in Sindh and Punjab.

“We have successfully reaped 75 maunds per acre yield of chillies crop from three different Chinese varieties in the local environment against 25-30 maunds produced by indigenous seeds,” says Dr Abdul Rashid, a farm scientist of the Guard Agricultural Research & Services.

The Chinese hybrid varieties whose fruit is over six inches long had been sown on 7,500 acres in different districts of Sindh and Punjab and will be cultivated on at least 30,000 acres in the next season, Dr Rashid informed Dawn during a visit to a model chillies farm on Monday.

He says that Chinese company LTEC is collaborating with Guard to improve the productivity of local crops and that all chilli yield will be purchased from the growers for its onward export to China.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2023