The Chinese government’s help to farmers in Pakistan’s rural areas has raised the prospects of a better life for many poverty-stricken people.

Ghulam Sarwar, a 41-year-old farmer from the Tando Allahyar district of Southern Sindh, was a fairly well-off farmer with three acres of land (1.214 hectares) until 2009 when the “bunchy top virus” devastated his banana fields and made it hard for him to feed his own family.

“It was the worst time of my life, I spent all my savings in one year and borrowed more. I could see only darkness everywhere,” Sarwar told Xinhua. “That was until 500 free plants of a Chinese banana variety ‘William-8818’ brought me out of the financial crisis and reenergised and entirely changed my life.”

Sarwar was among the thousands of Pakistanis who lost their means of earnings after the viral disease destroyed more than half of 85,992 acres of land used for banana cultivation in Pakistan, according to official statistics.

Senior Director at the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) Abdul Ghafoor said, “In 2009, China and Pakistan launched the Pak-China Cooperation for Agricultural Research and Development, a joint venture with Rs 255.712 million ($2.452 million) to maximise the productivity per unit of land in six fields, including cotton, banana, oil seeds, maize, sugarcane and efficient irrigation systems.”

“The main purpose of the project is to achieve food security, poverty reduction, economic efficiency, export competitiveness, human resource development and production and promotion of hybrid seeds in collaboration with the Chinese experts,” said Ghafoor, who heads the project that was due to end in June but will be extended to 2018.

The germplasm (seeds or tissues) or crops acquired from China have successfully passed trials in different areas of Pakistan and the hybrid seeds have been distributed among poor farmers, with the support of the Chinese team led by Ye Wei from the Hubei Seed Group of China.

During the past two years, at least 130,000 banana plants of three different Chinese varieties, William-8818, Brazilian and Pisang, have been distributed among the farmers, especially in Sindh, which accounts for 87 per cent of Pakistan’s total banana cultivation. Under the project, an agriculture lab in the Thatta district of Sindh has also been upgraded to 200,000 plants annually to facilitate the local banana production.

Sarwar is utterly delighted because the 500 William-8818 plants have more than doubled his income to almost Rs 500,000 ($4,807) annually, as the plant is tall, weather resistant and produces a better shelf-life banana bunch, with an average weight of 30 kg. It is 150 per cent more than that of the previous variety’s bunch, which weighed 12 kg on average.

According to the project director, Pakistan’s banana plantation is based on traditional methods, but he hoped that all the previous varieties will be replaced with Chinese verities in the next four to five years. He said that will not only give Pakistan self-reliance in banana production, with international quality standards, but also support it in poverty reduction.

According to a World Bank report in 2014, more than 50 per cent of Pakistan’s population of 192 million is living below the poverty line of $2 a day.

The World Bank report said the country has made impressive progress in reducing absolute poverty, however, a large portion of the population remains vulnerable to falling back into poverty as 13 per cent of the total population lives on an amount between $1.25 and $1.50 per day.

According to Pakistan’s national poverty line of Rs 3,030 ($29) income per month, the ratio of the population living below the poverty line has fallen from 64.3 per cent in 2001 to 29.5 per cent in 2014, thanks to local and foreign-funded poverty alleviation initiatives.

Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal told Xinhua that international economic observers projected a rise in Pakistan’s economic growth to 4.5 per cent in 2016 and then further to 4.8 per cent next year, supported by strong growth in industry and services as well as the projects under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

China has been constructing a 2,442-km-long economic corridor in Pakistan with $46 billion investment that will link the western side of China to Pakistan’s southwestern deep water port of Gwadar.

Under the CPEC, a number of projects, including industrial parks along the corridor, energy projects, railway and road infrastructure, and science and technology cooperation, will create hundreds of thousands of job opportunities for Pakistanis.

Minister Iqbal said out of the $46 billion, $35 billion are being invested in energy projects that will breathe new life into Pakistan’s energy-starved industries and will also pave the way for Pakistan to make its Vision 2025 successful and halve the poverty rate.

“Pakistanis are envisioning increased prosperity ahead, because Chinese investment can elevate Pakistan into the category of fast-emerging economies of the world. But, besides investments, Pakistan desperately needs Chinese support in the skills development sector for its workforce as well as transfer of modern technology to make the development sustainable,” Independent Bureau for Human Issues Director Professor Saeed Chaudhary said.

He said the immense benefits from the Chinese investment in agriculture, textile, engineering, minerals, chemicals, tourism and other sectors of Pakistan are reaching grassroots levels and have greatly and quantifiably helped alleviate poverty in Pakistan.