Threat to mango exports

As widely expected, the country's fruit exports may suffer a setback in the aftermath of cancellation of orders worth $0.4 million by Russian mango importers. However, the exporters of this fruit are stated to have referred to the Russian importers' complaint of low quality of the mango exported.
Moreover, they also gave vent to fears that the fruit might contract some infections as it was not graded according to international standards. According to them, Russia had earlier banned import of all commodities from Pakistan. That was when an insect - 'khapra beetle' - was found in rice consignments during inspection at Russian ports.
A Recorder Report making these distressing disclosures also had it that in the event of this unhealthy trend remaining unchecked, Pakistan's annual export of kinnow worth about $36.80 million worth to Russia also faces a ban in the coming season.
As such, understandably, exporters' apprehension of strict enforcement of standards on all Pakistani exports to Russia in future can hardly be ruled out. More to this, the exporters also feared that, obviously, the prevailing Russian tendency towards Pakistani commodities might as well disrupt the 125,000 tons mango exports target, as so far only 37,000 tons of it has been exported.
As against this, it was only last year that while dealing with the rice ban issue, the two countries had reached an agreement that Moscow would allow exports from Islamabad if these followed the rules under Geneva Convention.
Again, as now revealed, the entire Pak-Russia consultation process was saved on a compact disc (CD), which was to be sent to Moscow after its clearance from the higher authorities. However, as ill luck would have it, officials in the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) are stated to have lost the CD, obviously, to the detriment of the exporters, to say the least.
Of course, the mango exporters had a point in asserting that the matter was handled "irresponsibly and carelessly by the Minfal which put Pakistani products into disrepute for a glaring lack of compliance with quality standards." It will thus be noted that viewing the overall situation from their perspective, the contention that the government should address the root causes of such eventualities by paying proper attention to exporters' problems and ensuring commodities' standard of quality for export.
However, there is the other side of the picture, which the exporters seem to have overlooked. There can be no denying the delay and disarray which has long remained associated with the country's bureaucratic juggernaut. However, despite persistent efforts on the part of the government to reform the system during recent years of pronounced achievements in other spheres, a great deal appears remains to be desired on this front.
In such circumstances, it is always the exporter who has to take all the care to ensure, on his own, that what he exports conforms to quality standards. For businessmen in the private sector go for exports, unlike the government agencies, not just for the sake of it. Their indulgence in export or import is, basically, owed to their inherent urge for profits such activities lead to. Again, supposedly aware of the importing countries' emphasis on maintenance of quality standards, it falls in their own interest to ensure against non-compliance with importers' requirements.
For it is better not to export than to export, willingly or unwillingly, from the approach of non-compliance. It, certainly, is a risk not worth taking. Now that they want establishment of cold storages which are necessary for all food (fruits and vegetables) items rather than giving subsidies, as pointed by the Chairman of All Pakistan Fruits & Vegetable Exporters, Importers & Merchants Association, Abdul Wahid, this is something that needs to be persistently hammered in a manner to send a message to the government, which also has an obvious stake in export promotion.
This is not to say that the government is oblivious of the value and worth of compliance with international quality standards. This should become fairly evident, among other things, from the ambitious plans initiated several years ago for corporate farming, with all the emphasis on cool chains and safe storage facilities along the way of transit of the produce from farms to factories and onward to ports and other transit points on overland routes.
It is, however, just another matter that these plans have fallen a victim to traditional complacency, or whatever else there may be to it. Time has certainly come for the private enterprise to rise to the occasion from its basic approach of enlightened self-interest and to desist from taking risks not commensurate with their ends. That may be one way of sending a positive message to the government.