The 13th National Citrus Fruits and Winter Vegetable Expo concluded here on Sunday with Saeed Ihsan Farms of Faisalabad bagging first prize for producing the best Kinnow in size, taste, aroma and colour. They also bagged the first prizes for improved qualities of Eureka Lemon and Grapefruits. The three-day exhibition of winter fruits and vegetables was organised by the National Horticulture Foundation and had received entries from public and private institutions from Dera Ismail Khan, Multan, Sargodha, Okara, Sahiwal, Faisalabad and Peshawar.
The Pakistan International Airlines that owns nurseries at a number of places in the country had entered late winter flowers and was given a special prize.
The national flag carrier had brought marigold, late flower chrysanthemums and mountain dahlias.
Federal Food and Agriculture Minister Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan had originally agreed to preside over the prize distribution as a mark of appreciation for the efforts of the growers and exporters but he could not make it requesting Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed to deputise for him.
The latter however, also got stuck at Lahore on Sunday and leaving the field to an educationist Abid Sheikh, vice-principal of the Hassan Abdal Cadet College. He is fruit farmer having a orchards near Toba Tek Sindh who regretted the official apathy towards horticultural that he said could be a large foreign currency earner.
Improved varieties of fruits from the orange family, particularly the Kinnow that had adapted to the soil and climatic condition of the central Punjab, had a big market in Central Asia as well as the Far East, he added.
He also suggested to the Foundation to find new premises for its shows as the growing number of exhibitors had crammed the Jameel Nishtar Memorial Auditorium at the Zarai Tarraqiati Bank.
As on the previous two days, the Sugar Leaf plant, a new entry remained the main item of interest at the staff of the National Agriculture Research Centre. The plant, brought here from Paraguay, is undergoing ground trials for acceptability of soil and climate after which it will be propagated for seed.
Sugar extracted from the leaf is acceptable to diabetic patients and has zero calorie.
RUNNERS-UP: The runners up were the Roshan Enterprises followed by Abid Farms, Les Colinas Farms of Air Commodore Sajjad Haider, one of the heroes of the 1965 War with India, a one-time ISI chief, General Hamid Gul, Mian Muhammad Siddiq, Ghulam Nabi Wariach and Sheheryar Khan of Tarnab (NWFP). Sajjad Haider was given a special prize for exhibiting a new variety of red blood malta that was bigger in size and better in taste.
They were awarded prizes for their entries of different citrus varieties and winter vegetables. Among the corporate entrants were the food processors and Shezan International, leading producers of fruit juices and jams as well as the honey farmers bagged special prizes and appreciation certificates.
Some special prizes were given to students of three age groups for their speed in peeling and consuming Kinnow fruits. Each group had six prizes.
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