Recently, BR Research attended a USDA ceremony that marked the completion of a six-year training programme in SPS compliance for horticulture export promotion. One of the graduates from that programme, Kashif Jamshed, is currently working as a freelance consultant for the Agriculture Department of the Government of Punjab.

 

Mr. Jamshed has done his Master’s in Business Administration from Institute of Business Administration, Punjab University Lahore and has been engaged in designing and managing projects related to agriculture (especially horticulture) for the last 12 years. As a consultant for the Agriculture Department of Punjab, he possesses key insights about the upcoming horticulture policy. BR Research had the pleasure of hearing his thoughts and learning from his rich expertise.

BR Research: Tell us about horticulture exports from Pakistan and what initiatives have been taken in the past to increase them?

Kashif Jamshed: With respect to fruits and vegetables, our horticulture exports are around $750 million – sometimes more or less depending on production. Ever since the government came, our focus has been to grow horticulture exports. But we didn’t know where to start.

In 2011, the Punjab government started a project; supply chain improvement of agriculture and livestock products. The basic theme was to apply international standards to production bases and improve our quality, but it did not do well. There were certain reasons. One, we were at very basic levels; horticulture was never a priority. As you know, Punjab gives priority to wheat, rice, sugarcane, and cotton. Horticulture is just a small component, and the provinces have never really been working on it.

Secondly, we didn’t have adequate knowledge about export requirements and international markets. The Department of Plant Protection (DPP) and other federal government agencies like TDAP & PHDEC were working in isolation in the provinces, but at a mass scale, executive level, or at an administrative level, the export requirements weren’t known to the farmers. This is why our 2011 project didn’t do too well. We didn’t have the upfront knowledge.

BRR: Tell us a little bit about the different parties involved – the DPP, the Punjab Agriculture Department, the Extension Department? What is their relation to one another?

KJ: Punjab’s Agriculture Department as a whole is a regulator of policies: Agriculture policy, horticulture policy, designing mechanisms, this is their job. These policies will always be in line with the national policies.

Export-related regulatory framework is dealt with by the DPP (Ministry of National Food Security and Research), which is a federal body. They do bilateral negotiations with trading countries. They are directly in contact with different countries, negotiating terms, packaging, procedures, etc. They develop the standards and make protocols. Their role is monitoring and regulating.

The Extension Department of the provincial Agriculture Department will go into the field and educate the farmers on these standards, equip them with the latest agricultural techniques, build their capacity, etc.

So, for instance, the DPP will approach the US, who will tell them their requirements and procedures for, say, kinnow. The DPP will then bring these regulatory frameworks and protocols to the provincial government and negotiate their inclusion into the policies. When the Agriculture Department will make that policy, then the execution – bringing it to the farmer level – is the job of the Extension Department.

BRR: What is the coordination between these three bodies like?

KJ: After the 18th amendment, the connection between Extension and DPP needs to be strengthened. Fruit and vegetable is an emerging commodity, and as I said Extension workers mostly work on the four crops. Thus, over the past few years, the DPP has had a dual role. One, it was doing regulating and monitoring. Two, since their connection with Extension has not been so strong, they have been going into the field themselves. Extension was not focusing on horticulture, so DPP has been doing that directly.

BRR: Tell us about the horticulture policy? Is it the centre’s or Punjab’s?

KJ: Horticulture policy is for the centre and provinces as well. The issue with horticulture is that each crop has its own dynamic. For instance, 98-99 percent of citrus is Punjab’s. Similarly, potato is indigenous to Punjab; around 70-72 percent mango is Punjab; most of red chili is with Sindh, etc.

When it comes to provincial horticulture, then the policies would be dependent on the horticulture potential of the province. The federal policy gives the broad guidelines, while the provinces will pick the specifics.

BRR: What about our provincial research institutions? The general consensus is that they are very inefficient and there is no research or development in new varieties in any of our major crops, or even horticulture for that matter.

KJ: They have their own limitations. I had the same reservations as you do, but I did a whole project on rice; I understood R&D and how public sector organisations work. It’s exhausting. There’s no formula.

It’s not just about funding, it’s about a lot of things: it’s about dedication, consistency, and luck as well. Firstly, the administrative setup is not supportive. Progress/promotions in the Agriculture Department’s research wing are slow. A person will join as an Assistant Research Officer at grade 17, work for several years, and retire at grade 18. Another issue is that a person can work 10-15 years in rice, but to get a promotion they would have to switch to potato.

HR is very important. In the public sector, things are really different. I’ve worked in the private sector; I can see that the stakes are very different. In public sector, I know there’s post-retirement security and that nobody’s going to thrash me for output. Apart from that, the pay isn’t good and the promotion structure is bad; even if you’re outstanding, your promotion will be the same as a person who’s just good, so why bother being outstanding?

Experience is another issue. For instance, one trial has 5,000 samples. Perhaps one sample is responding to your research. You need that technical eye to identify that one sample, and then luck plays a part as well.

Having said all this, however, the yields have increased manifold in the last 50 odd years and the main contribution came from varieties developed by the public sector. It’s a great contribution.

Sometimes, our research institutions do adequately respond to market requirements, but then it’s the farmer community whose adaptability is slow. Lots of technologies or practices should have been adopted by now, but you cannot find any reason why people aren’t adopting them. For instance, wooden crates for packaging mangoes. Why is this trend not changing? Peaches from Swat will come in corrugated boxes. But in Punjab, where there is more landholding, education, resources, they are still sticking to wooden cartons. Adaptability is low as well, even when the things are there.

BRR: If adaptability is low like you say, then wouldn’t that be due to the Extension’s inefficiency then?

KJ: I won’t say that. Extension departments have their own problems. Their field forces – people in the districts – report to the DCO, even though they’re employees of the Agriculture Department. So, Extension employees have to oversee Sunday bazaars, tomato prices, wheat procurement, Ramadan bazaars, all in addition to their duties. The DCO will use them for other purposes. It’s not like the private sector, where there are checks and balances. It’s an administrative issue, and the government is seriously working to resolve it (it’s one of the priority areas).

BRR: In your opinion, has this USDA technical workshop been useful?

KJ: We cannot locally get the kind of exposure we get from the workshops with international donors. For instance, we were discussing CPEC. Does the regulatory mechanism between Pakistan and China support our export? We’re told that when the road network and train network is built, our consignments will reach China in four to five days from Sarghoda. But China has kept a barrier that you have to keep the kinnow at 2 degrees Celsius for 16 days. So how does your four-day road network support us? We have been trying to sell mangoes to America, but there were many barriers. Now, we have understood those barriers. The concerned will be pressed to take up the issues at the appropriate forum and facilitate trade for Pakistani exporters.

BRR: Now that you know their standards, what is the next step?

KJ: I have helped the Punjab Agriculture Department in designing a $32-million-dollar project emphasizing horticulture and mainly on SPS compliance. The basic goal of the project is that the ground zero agriculture should be SPS compliant. The Extension worker will go to the field and prepare the farmer. We will incentivise and build the capacity of the Extension worker for better efficiency, as well as incentivise the farmer for better output. It’s a four-year programme.

We are targeting a 30 percent rise in horticulture exports from Punjab. It focuses on all aspects of the value chain. We are looking at the farm level, processing, and marketing, both domestic and international. We will give farmers the latest equipment, machinery for better produce, grading, packaging, facilities to reduce post-harvest losses for increased profitability. We will support the processing industry through capacity building and subsidising the missing facilities. This is the Punjab government’s initiative to cover SPS compliance. We wish that other provinces will come up and adopt this programme, because if Punjab is sending SPS-compliant items and other provinces’ exports are showing issues, then our efforts are gone in vain, because no one looks at the farmer or the province, but Pakistan on the whole.

BRR: What is the policy doing for promoting exports?

KJ: We will be spending around $3-4 million on the export promotion. We have built an export market linkage programme within this project. The farmer will not be left alone; we’ll take him to the market.

Our market intelligence will vary from country to country, commodity to commodity. So it will be very detailed and specific. We will build up such reports, and make operational plans on them.

BRR: You are promoting growth in horticulture in Punjab, at a time when the area under major crops like cotton has declined significantly. How will the increased horticulture affect the area under major crops?

KJ: It won’t. Our horticulture products are already in excess! We say we will focus on existing things. For instance, if there’s a bumper crop of potatoes, then we will already be prepared to cash it and we will know which markets we can take it to. You have to plan ahead. Increasing the area is a distant conversation for now. We’re talking about the basics and working with what we have already.