The export target of 300,000 tons fixed for Kinnow by the Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Company (PHDEC) will not be achieved due to rains towards the end of the season which has resulted in low production. According to details available here currently exports stood at 190,000 tons and another 20,000 tons are expected to be shipped by the end of March taking total export volume to 210,000 tons - a shortfall of 90,000 tons.
Last year 250,000 tons of Kinnow were exported resulting in foreign exchange earning of $100 million. According to CEO of Harvest Trading, Ahmad Jawad production of Kinnow was 400,000 tons less than last year, representing a 25 percent decrease. In the preceding year, 1.8 million tons of Kinnow were produced while this year it has come down to 1.4 million tons.
The fruit, which was available at Rs 600/40kg at the end of last season is now sold for Rs 1,100/kg. The increase in prices are due to a 30 percent increase in packaging, logistics and labour costs, inflated utility bills and prolonged load shedding of power and gas, which hampered fruit processing, he said.
Pakistan is the 6th largest producer of citrus in the world, 70 percent produced in Sargodha. This bumper crop has suffered during the last few years due to lack of right policies of the government. Ahmad Jawad told Business Recorder that every year 70 percent of the product is exported to Middle East but the exporter does not make a reasonable profit, as these are basically commission markets. Exporter gets commission on the goods sold. These markets run on demand and supply basis.
Pakistani citrus has failed to penetrate into European markets mainly because around 25-30 percent fruit blemishes in Kinnow, which is one of the main causes impeding its exports. Cosmetic look of the fruit is a very important factor affecting consumer choice in the market. Attractive, blemish-free fruits are desired by the consumer on the skin of the fruit. Almost half of the production is not acceptable by European markets because of this reason and non-availability of process certification.
Jawad said that blemishes on Kinnow of different kinds were observed and the data was statistically analysed to comprehend the results. The wind-horn blemishes were maximum in small farms and at the top location of the canopy, lesser in medium sized farms and central location of the canopy and least in large farms and bottom location of the canopy.
Red scales were maximum in bottom location of the canopy, followed by central and top locations, and peel miner was highest in small orchards, followed by medium and large orchards. The incidence of blemishes, caused by fungus was maximum in bottom portion of the canopy, followed by central and top portions, and the citrus canker was maximum in large orchards, followed by medium and small orchards, he said.
He further emphasised that another reason for low average yield of the Kinnow mandarin in the country is the improper use of fertiliser and less use of bio-fertilisers. Bio-fertilisers play a vital role in improving the fruit quality as well as production by increasing the nutrient uptake of plants. Due to population pressure in the country, our agricultural products fail to meet the food, feed, fodder and industrial raw material demands.
Therefore, it is necessary to utilise suitable available bio-fertilisers to enhance our food quality and quantity. Synthetic fertilisers are very costly and do not fulfil the farmer's demand, so there is a need to use bio-chemicals like humic acid and micro nutrients to increase yield with superior quality fruits.
Among these bio-stimulants, humic substances are identified as beneficial source for supplying humic acid, fulvic acid and hum ins. Humic substances are organic in nature with significant distribution in soil, fresh water, sewage, lignite and brown coals. These are partially decomposed material, originated as a consequence of biological and chemical breakdown of animal and plant life. It estimates the production potential of the soil. There was need to give some special grant on Bio Fertiliser to Pakistani Kinnow growers.
Since 2006/07 Australia is assisting Pakistan under the Agriculture Sector Linkages Program (ASLP) to overcome certain constraints in Pakistan's agriculture exports sector. But no fruitful progress has been made till date for improvement of this crop. Jawad said thanks to the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad which has set up a research programme regarding Kinnow quality improvement for export to global market.
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