ECC seeks placement details of 885 China-trained agricultural professionals

ECC seeks placement details of 885 China-trained agricultural professionals

Pakistan’s economic managers have sought details about the employment and placement of agricultural professionals trained in China, directing the relevant ministries to report their current status.

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has asked the Ministry of National Food Security and Research and the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training to provide placement details of 885 professionals who have completed their training.

The matter came under discussion during a recent ECC meeting after the minister for power questioned the placement of the trained professionals. The committee sought the information to assess whether the training programme had delivered the intended benefits.

The Ministry of Education informed the ECC that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, during his visit to China in June 2024, had announced a programme to train 1,000 Pakistani agricultural professionals in China. The initiative aimed to help Pakistan benefit from China’s expertise in agricultural technology, innovation and research.

Following the announcement, the Ministry of National Food Security and Research prepared a training framework, while the Higher Education Commission (HEC) took responsibility for the programme’s financial and logistical arrangements.

The ECC approved a technical supplementary grant of Rs3.072 billion on November 28, 2024, to implement the programme in phases. The government released Rs1.95 billion during fiscal year 2024-25.

Under the first batch, the HEC arranged training for 292 professionals. However, delays prevented the second batch from proceeding within the stipulated timeframe. As a result, Rs1.406 billion remained unutilised, while the authorities surrendered the remaining Rs544 million.

The Ministry of Federal Education told the committee that the HEC arranged training for another 593 professionals in two batches during FY2025-26, taking the total number of trained participants to 885.

The remaining 115 candidates, all holding Sindh domicile, have fulfilled the required criteria and secured registration at Northwest Agricultural and Forestry University in Xi’an, China. Their departure under Cohort-I of Batch-III was scheduled for the last week of September 2026, completing the programme’s target of 1,000 trainees.