Planting dreams with soybeans

Editor's note: Pakistani post-doctoral student, with the help of Chinese mainland and Hong Kong experts, finds answer to improving people's livelihood in his homeland through agriculture. Xue Jingqi reports.

Hafiz Mamoon Rehman, born in a small village in Pakistan's Punjab province, grew up surrounded by golden wheat and cotton as white as snow. Unlike the generations before him who toiled the land, he chased academic excellence and sought knowledge beyond the familiar terrain of his homeland.

"Agriculture is food for poor countries," he says.

Rehman's journey led him to the fields of biotechnology, where he grappled with the intricacies of herbicide resistance and genetically modified wheat. In 2016, while pursuing his doctorate at Chonnam National University in South Korea, he chose soybeans as the subject of his long-term research.

He cast his resume into the world, reaching out to soybean experts across the globe. It was a message from Professor Lam Hon-ming of The Chinese University of Hong Kong's School of Life Sciences that set the stage for what was to come.

Lam, a prominent expert in agricultural science, had decoded the genomes of 31 soybean varieties, breeding non-genetically modified drought and salinity-tolerant germplasms, and was the first from Hong Kong to participate in a national-level space agricultural research project.

Two years later, Rehman joined Lam's lab, completing a successful three-year postdoctoral stint. Hong Kong became a dream for him, a place where he built up a family and memories, including the birth of his child at Prince of Wales Hospital.

Yet, despite the allure of the vibrant city, Rehman never lost sight of his goal – returning home and using his knowledge to help his people. "Hong Kong has a better life. But, I think if you really want to serve the farmer community, you should come to some agricultural country and serve."