Mango growers seek government's help

The Mango Growers Association (MGA) has demanded of the government to share in swift completion agriculture export processing zone (EPZ) and not to leave it at the mercy of private sector.
They also demanded of the government to provide complete infrastructure of cold-chain, irradiation plant for mango decontamination, establishment of mango pulp industry and a most modern disease diagnostic research laboratories to meet the future challenges under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime.
The MGA executive committee members, at a meeting held here, said though the Federal and Punjab governments had approved the establishment of the agriculture processing zone in Multan, the mango growers were not involved in the project.
Senior executive committee member Malik Bashir Awan, chairing the meeting, demanded of the government to establish mango pulp infrastructure for the promotion of fresh juice industry in the area.
Speaking on the occasion, MGA President Syed Zahid Gardezi said the mango pulp infrastructure could be established at a cost of Rs 35 million, which was an easy task for the government.
He said the Pakistani mangoes were considered the best in taste and aroma in the world.
"Mango is not only delicious, but also full of nutritional value. It is high in beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin "A", and is a rich source of the vitamin "B" complex," he added.
He said mangoes were mainly consumed fresh, and added their nutritive value was relatively high. "One hundred grams of raw mango (edible portion) contain water (81.7 gram), food energy (66 calories), protein (0.7 gram), fat (0.4 gram) and carbohydrate (16 gram). Mangoes are also relatively rich in other elements (calcium, phosphorous, iron, potash and magnesium) and in vitamins, especially A and C," he said.
The MGA executive committee member, Major Syed Zahid Bukhari (Retd), said the growers had been facing critical problems in lack of packing and grading infrastructure of perishable items for a long time and the problem still existed causing decline in the mango export.
The mangoes orchards were spread over 118,810 acres in more than 10 Punjab districts, including Rahimyar Khan, Bahawalpur, Multan, Vehari, Muzaffargarh, Khanewal, Sahiwal, Jhang, Faisalabad, Okara and other, but these areas were producing mangoes in the absence of the export infrastructure, he added.