The 14th National Mango and Dates Exposition 2005 opened here, on Tuesday with three new varieties of mangoes, one of dates and some new products in processed foods. The show will continue until Thursday, closing with a seminar on the development of summer fruits.
Two farms brought the mangoes - one from Faisalabad and the other from Sahiwal - and the developers said they were still trying to achieve further improvements in the products.
Firdousia, an oblong green-skinned mango, that looks an improvement on Fajri mango, has been brought to the Expo by Ihsan Rashid Farms of Faisalabad, while the Malik Fruit Farms of Sahiwal are competing with Nusrat Pasand and Pitwalla.
The developers of Firdousia said the fruit had a lot of fiber but was not yet as sweet or aromatic as Fajri, while the Malik Fruit Farm owners agreed that Nusrat Pasand had emerged from Chaunsa and smelled slightly better than its parent.
The Pitwalla was called so because of the prickly yellow skin of the mango.
They also had brought Hassan Jamal and Roosi Dulhan (Russian Bride) but agreed the varieties had not come out of the trial grounds yet and it was too early to enter the competition.
The biggest entry of the expo at this show was from Dera Ismail Khan from where its Agricultural Research Institute not only brought their prized dates called Shakri but a large variety of mangoes, figs, berries and cheeko, floor mats and baskets made of date-palm fronds. These were in addition to a large number of mango entries.
In his brief opening remarks, the Federal State Minister for Commerce, Hamid Yar Hiraj, departed from the usual practice of extending official patronage and measures for capturing foreign markets.
He told a large gathering of growers, food processors, exporters, foreign diplomats and local officials that the responsibility for improving their lot in quality and trading fell on the private sector.
At the advent of WTO regime, he said it was primarily for them to improve their merchandise and fan out in the foreign markets.
They could not just sit and wait for the government to fight their battles, he added.
However, he said, the government machinery was always available for assistance but it could not take the whole responsibility on their behalf.
Hiraj also urged the growers and food industrialists to make use of the service and products developed for their benefit by the official research institutes.
Describing mango as the King of Fruits and the incentives and opportunities offered by the government, the Minister of State hoped it would be possible to make Pakistan the biggest exporter of the fruit.
He urged the growers and exporters to enforce the quality controls, observe fair practices and international standards, he added.
Hiraj said the government was going to set up a fruit export-processing zone, with Multan Airport as the hub of all such activity.
The city is in the midst of mango growing zone of Southern Punjab, while the Karachi International Airport could serve Sindh.
Among the food processing industries the largest entry was brought by the Mitchell Fruit Farms with squashes, juices, sauces, dried vegetables and their latest product of a number of milk chocolates.
The Ayub Agriculture Research Institute of Faisalabad, bringing dehydrated carrots, potatoes, spinach, sweet peas and onions, followed them.
They had also put on display their new product of potato powder that could be used for making a new generation of desserts.
The Pakistan International Airlines had flown from their various nurseries a number of summer flowers grown from seeds and bulbs. The most attractive were the hybrid gladioli in different colours.
A seminar on improved growing practices will be opened by Federal Food and Agriculture Minister, Sikander Hayat Bosan, at the Pakistan Academy of Sciences, on Wednesday morning.
The Export Promotion Bureau and the Horticultural Foundation of Pakistan have jointly sponsored the Seminar and Expo.