Mango researchers and experts stressed upon the growers for more vigilance because mango orchards have now entered the crucial stage of flowering and due to adverse humid climates and intermittent rains in mango growing areas it has become mandatory to spray orchards with broad-based fungicides.
Experts also warned the growers to adopt all measures against disease 'Quick Decline' to avoid from future disasters.
The Mango Growers Association (MGA) has urged the government for proper steps for king of fruits as the season has commenced because mango is the only fruit among horticulture produce that can safely combat with the challenges of WTO standards being exercised in Pakistan from January 2005.
The MGA president Syed Zahid Gardezi and the experts were addressing the launching of 6th programme of Farmers' Field School (FFS) being held under the joint venture of Mango Growers Association (MGA) and the scientists of CABI bio-science centre Rawalpindi and sponsored by PARC under the Agriculture Linkage Programme (ALP).
Gardezi said mango alone has the peculiar quality to mesmerise the Eastern and Western consumers by its flavour and taste and "mandatory interventions are required to give them a good-shelf appeal and prolonged-shelf life."
POSITIVE RESULTS: Gardezi said: "The Farmers' Field School is a blend of research, extension and association of mango growers and can give very positive results in development of the mango industry."
Addressing the FFS, the CABI social scientist Qamar Zia has underlined the need for a consensus on contemporary problems being faced by mango growers with a joint interaction and debates amongst the scientists, field extension services and the growers to evolve a practically beneficial calendar for value-added mango growing.
The Shujaabad Mango Research Station's plant pathologist Malik Tariq said that the mango orchards have now entered the crucial stage of flowering and due to adverse humid climates and intermittent rains in mango growing areas, it has become mandatory to spray orchards with broad-based fungicides.
He said that mango trees should be thoroughly sprayed from trunks to the top as precautions against 'Quick Decline' apart from preventive measures against blossom blight and powdery mildew.
He urged growers to keep a close watch on sucking pests and include insecticide in their spray when required.
It was also announced that the seventh session of FFS would be held on March 10 this year.