A two member delegation of foreign specialist on fruits visited Multan to meet the members of the Mango Growers Association Pakistan to discuss the educate the growers on the contemporary changes taking place in good agriculture practices.
Govanni Nanzi from Italy and Alpertunga Tasdurmaz from Azerbaijan were accompanied by Commissioner Minor Crops Ministry of Food Agriculture and Livestock Dr Muhammad Aslam and Hashim Leghari, Director Horticulture PARC Islamabad.
Addressing a gathering of the members of the Mango Growers Association Pakistan at CCRI Multan, Alpertunga said that they were interested in promotion of stone fruits from Pakistan for the global connoisseurs of good taste and as such Pakistan mango can have a good status. He said that Govanni Nanzi and his family is trading in more than nine hundred varieties of fruits and vegetables from various countries and they desire to share their knowledge of production, quality and related pre and post harvest technology of mango with Pakistani growers.
Govanni Nanzi said that the mango season in Pakistan is of short duration and we desire that some early varieties of fruits be developed and grown in Pakistan to be available in April, May. Both the experts said that good quality mango and other fruits of Pakistan can have a berth in the global arena if its quality, shelf life and post harvest handling and packing is improved.
Welcoming the delegation to the Mango City of Pakistan, the President Mango Growers Association Pakistan Syed Zahid Hussain Gardezi said that wide varieties of agriculture and horticulture produce are grown in Pakistan and mango is the second largest fruit in terms of it yearly production of 1.3 million tons. Gardezi said that Mango Growers Association Pakistan has mobilised growers, exporters and all the stakeholders in mango trade to a high level of awareness. As such more and more growers have begun to adopt Good Agriculture Practices, much in line with the mandatory requirements of WTO Agreement on Agriculture.
We have curtailed the use of pesticides and have begun to adopt organic farming. He thanked the visiting delegation for having shared their experience with the mango growers and said that the developing economy of Pakistan has adequate opportunity for joint venture in processing industry and trade in horticulture produce of the country.