Mango harvesting has been started at the farm level, but the farmers are facing shortage of labourers. In order to deal with this issue a meeting of the growers was held here recently under the chairmanship of focal person of District Hyderabad on the coronavirus, MPA Sharjeel Inaam Memon, to finalize the SOPs for skilled labourers for mango picking.
Sharjeel Memon told the meeting that although calling labourers from other provinces was difficult under present circumstances, yet they were trying to call a limited number of labourers so that not only growers could be saved from the economic losses but also to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
He suggested to the growers to employ local labourers in mango picking so that the poor labourers could be benefited.
According to the proposed SOPs for labourers for mango picking finalized in the meeting, the growers would provide a list of those labourers who would come from other provinces, and for that the assistant commissioner would establish a camp to register the labourers.
It is compulsory for labourers below 50 years of age coming from other provinces to bring with them health certificates. The farmers would be bound to inform the assistant commissioner if any laborer suffered from fever or flu.
The meeting was attended by DIG Hyderabad Naeem Ahmed Shaikh, Deputy Commissioner Hyderabad Fuad Gaffar Soomro, representatives of Abadgar Board Mehmood Nawaz Shah, Haji Nisar Memon and Murtaza Unar and farmers and other officers concerned.
Meanwhile, experts, academics, researchers and farmers highlighted the impact of Covid-19 on mango export. The researchers and academicians said that Pakistan is among the world's top producer of wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane, mango and oranges.
Agriculture is the mainstay of Pakistan's economy, contributing 18.5 percent to the country's GDP and employing 38.5 percent of the labour force. Major crops (cotton, wheat, rice, maize and sugarcane) contribute 4 per cent and minor crops add 2 per cent to GDP while livestock sector adds 11 percent.
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ismail Kumbhar, a development practitioner and researcher of Sindh, said that due to Covid-19 mangoes from Pakistan would not be exported due to the lockdown and closure of transportation.
Time is of the essence as mango crop in Sindh is ready from first week of May and by early June in Punjab. However the workers from southern Punjab are getting difficulties to pluck and pack the mangoes at various farms of Sindh.
The same applies to farmers associated with livestock, dairy and poultry. Muhammad Haroon Memon, a mango farmer from Kunri, said that every year, at least 10 tonnes of mangoes are exported weekly from his farm to the Gulf region. "The Gulf traders have asked us to wait until May 15," he said, urging the government to ensure food trade by air and sea during COVID-19.
Javed Soz, a development practitioner, said that Pakistan annually produces roughly 1.7 million tonnes of mangoes, exported to more than 50 countries, mainly to UAE and Saudi Arabia.
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