40% citrus production wasted every year

Poor harvest and lack of disease management major factors for the loss.

FAISALABAD: Forty per cent of citrus production of the country is wasted in post-harvest handling every year, posing a challenge for agricultural scientists and government food officials to check the wastage.

Causes of the loss include poor harvest practices, delay in harvest, lack of disease management and unfavourable weather conditions.

This was observed in a meeting with the theme “Enhancement of citrus value chain production in Pakistan and Australia through improved orchard planning”. The talks were held under the Agriculture Sector Linkage Project between Pakistan and Australia at the University of Agriculture (UAF) on Monday.

UAF Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Iqrar Ahmed Khan said Pakistan is an important citrus producer across the globe. He said that 10% of the fruit is exported, 2% is processed, 40% is lost in post-harvest process and remaining 48% is supplied to domestic markets.

The university and the linkage programme are working to eliminate poor harvest practices, he said, adding practical demonstration is the best way to persuade farmers to adopt new practices and varieties.

He also called for conserving water by kicking off an awareness campaign which will sensitise people about the importance of this resource. He said that due to climatic changes, water will start becoming scarce in the years to come so “now we have to work on it in order to protect coming generations from water scarcity”.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 25^th, 2011.