But things are not as simple as that. To take full advantage of the opening, Pakistan will have to spruce up its marketing and avoid the pitfalls its neighbour encountered. As a parliamentary secretary for Punjab aptly noted, improving farming standards and learning where India went wrong is critical to cashing in. Efforts towards this end appear to be already being made. Some 50 landowner-farmers gathered at a fruit farm near Multan recently to learn new methods of protecting mangoes from hazardous insects. The seriousness shown at learning the tricks of keeping the insects at bay is well worth it since the fruit fly hasn’t only affected India ‘but has threatened our orchards also’, according to a senior pest control official. His colleagues have been visiting farms and orchards to spread the word about the lucrative profits available if Pakistan can continue to meet EU standards. And those standards are vigorous, a fact which farmers must never lose sight of.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 20th, 2014.
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The fruit fly require visa to travel to Pakistan and I will request my Pakistani farmer brothers to be vigilant so that their fruit be able to EU standards. I am also hay that atleast we will be able have cheap maangoes due to EU ban on erxport.
So this means, expensive mangoes in Pakistan! Damn!
You have the same pest issue as India - if that's not fixed then not only are you unlikely to gain market share it's possible you will face similar ban. Pakistan mango farmers should consider co-operative purchase of radiation equipment allowing pest free access to European and American markets.