Fruity farms: Cut the crops and embrace the veggies

Growers urged to look into sowing fruit and vegetables to gain better profits.

SUKKUR: Grow fruits and vegetables to prosper, was the message from the secretary of Sindh’s investment department, Naheed Shah at an event on Tuesday.

According to Shah, growers should opt for fruits and vegetables instead of traditional crops, and called for an investment in human resources to improve the living standards of people.

Shah was speaking at the inauguration of a Horticulture Training Project in village Behram Khan Chakrani in taluka Thari Mir Wah, district Khairpur. The project cost Rs20 million and was initiated by the agriculture extension department.

Shah pointed out that development does not just mean constructing new buildings and roads, but could take place when people’s mindsets changed.

According to Shah, growers – especially women – work very hard but get little in return. She believes that instead of sowing traditional crops like wheat, paddy and cotton, switching over to fruit and vegetables would strengthen growers’ financial position.

She urged them as well as the local administration and agriculture department to work together in boosting agriculture. Shah said that sowing vegetables would also guarantee food security.

Khairpur Deputy Commissioner Ghulam Abbas Baloch said the agriculture sector was being given attention because of the Sindh chief minister’s interest and punctuated his point by highlighting the examples of impoverished women being given agricultural land as well as the establishment of an agriculture college in Setharja. Baloch said that the crop pattern should be changed to eliminate salinity in the area.

The director of the agriculture extension department Sukkur Riaz Ahmed Dayo echoed Shah’s idea. He said that if cucumber is sown over one acre of land, then a grower can earn Rs1 million. A grower’s net profit could be half that amount.

Dayo said that the horticulture project will include an 18-month training course for growers, especially women, at six different places in Thari Mir Wah taluka. They would also be given a stipend. Growers will also be provided modern seeds and fertiliser.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2012.