Tracking fruit farms: Kinnow to follow in mangoes’ footsteps

Govt begins farm registration to improve export quality.

KARACHI:

After registering mango farms, the government has started surveying kinnow orchards in an attempt to standardise its exports to the European Union (EU) and other markets.

For the first time in the country’s history, the government in May 2014 introduced a well-known global practice of tracking fruit farms and even trees to standardise mango export to the EU.

Exporters and government officials believe the practice paid dividends and mango exporters fetched higher prices this year, encouraging authorities to replicate the practiceto other fruits and vegetables.

“We have started surveying kinnow farms to understand the problems of growers,” said Department of Plant Protection (DPP) Director General Dr Mubarak Ahmed. “We will then certify these farms for the EU markets,” he told The Express Tribune.

DPP is one of the 14 organisations that work under the Ministry of National Food Security and Research and provides complete quarantine facilities to fruit and vegetable growers.

“We are sure that these practices will immensely help kinnow exports and exporters,” Ahmed added.

He admitted that fruit growers and exporters are not completely ready for such strict government control but insisted that gradually the new system will start paying off.

Kinnow exporters are divided over the new system.

“Just like the case of mangoes, the relevant government departments are now late in registering farms and making new policies this year but the efforts may help kinnow exporters next year,” said one of the country’s leading kinnow and mango exporters.

However, some exporters firmly believe that government policy to strictly monitor mango exports to the EU – one of the most lucrative markets for fruit exporting countries – was not only justified but also helped Pakistan from a blanket ban on its fruit and vegetable exports.

The EU banned some Indian fruits and vegetables this year. Following this, the EU warned Pakistan that the presence of fruit flies and other diseases could also lead to a complete ban on Pakistani fruits and vegetables in the EU markets.

“We support government policies of registering kinnow farms as it will help growers and exporters to invest in quality products. There must be some reward for growers who work hard to save farms from different fruit diseases,” another top kinnow exporter commented.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2014.

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