MINGORA:
Peach farmers of Swat experienced over 200% increase in profits this year in the sales of their produce, according to Muhammad Uzair, Director of the Agriculture Extension Department of Swat.
Speaking to The Express Tribune on Friday, Uzair said that this season’s well graded and packed peaches were highly appreciated by local traders and exporters. “The farmers received Rs600 for each pack of four kilogrammes as compared to Rs180 they received in the previous years and they are happy with the increased gains of Rs420,” said Uzair.
This year’s increased profitability for fruit farmers is being attributed to an initiative of the Italian government which aims to provide technical assistance to fruit and vegetable growers in Swat Valley.
In 2013, under the project titled ‘Technical assistance and support for the improvement of fruit production and marketing in the horticulture value chain in Swat valley’, the Italian government provided and installed several types of machinery for fruit and vegetable growers in the valley.
The apparatus provided under the project include cold storage rooms for fruits, selection lines for washing, waxing, drying, brushing and selecting fruit by weight and size of the production, controlled temperature carriers for fruit transportation as well as pick-up vehicles.
According to Salvatore Farfaglia, the project coordinator of the Agriculture Development Project Swat, the initiative aims to increase the income of farmers, support them all along the value chain from production to post-harvest, and reduce post-harvest losses which stood at 40% of the total produce.
Quality control
Agriculturalists in Swat say the machinery installed under the Italian project made the packaging of fruits more durable and helped the local farming community in getting better access to the local and foreign markets and making higher profits.
Itebar Gul, a peach orchard owner in Kabal tehsil, said: “Before the provision of these machines, we used to clean, grade and pack our peach produce manually which did not attract buyers and exporters much. However, after using the selection lines this year our produce earned us a high income.”
Horticulture value chain development expert, Amjad Ali, said fruit orchard owners had been sustaining 30-40% post-harvest losses for a long time due to poor field management of produce and un-standardized cleaning, grading and weighing.
Ali added that because of the provision of the relevant machinery, peaches and apples are now managed through a mechanical grading system, stored in cool temperatures and packaged appropriately for transportation.
“This season’s peaches were supplied to Tajikistan and main domestic markets of Islamabad and Lahore,” he said.
Bakht Biland Khan, who supervises one of the packaging units in Kabal tehsil, said the fruits processed and packed at the unit have already been exported to Central Asia via Afghanistan. “Swat’s peaches are in high demand in the Central Asian market,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 31st, 2014.
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