Fruits of different varieties, weighing about 86,675 tons, worth $43.8 million were exported during the period July-August, 2011. Ahmas Jawad, CEO of Harvest Trading, told Business Recorder that the government should support the vegetable and fruit exporters, with proper incentives, to enhance export volume and value in the next five years, as majority of population comes from rural areas and are dependent on agriculture.
Agricultural sector contributes 21 percent of GDP and the fruit and vegetable sectors bring heavy amounts of foreign exchange to the country. Besides fruits, vegetables weighing 47,340 tons were exported during the same period adding $19.42 million to the national foreign accounts reserves.
Jawad said that in the last decades, horticulture crops production has increased from 11. 3 million tons to 13.7 million tons. The production analysis shows that the share of fruits and vegetables was 48.6 percent and 51.4 percent respectively in the last few years. Among major fruit crops, citrus, mango, dates, guava and apple contribute 30 percent, 25 percent, nine percent, nine percent and five percent respectively while in vegetable production potato, onion and tomato share with 29 percent, 25 percent and six percent respectively.
Out of 14.5 million tons annual production of fruits and vegetables worth around two billion dollars, over half a million tons horticulture products, costing 230 million dollars are exported as average export price/unit by Pakistan is the lowest in the world due to low quality and low end markets, he said.
He said that while Pakistani kinnows are being shipped via sea to overseas destinations through some efforts of the private sector, fruits such as mangoes and dates are lagging behind due to lack of good infrastructural facilities in the country. Consequently, these fruits have to be dispatched by air, which, being dearer than sea shipments, increases costs tremendously for the exporters.
The potential for increasing export of premium quality of horticultural produce, offering multiple employment opportunities throughout the supply chain, particularly in rural areas, should be tapped. Its growth and profitability is, however, restrained mainly due to lack of proper pro-harvest management and transport infrastructure, he said.
Jawad said that foreign exchange earnings through export of fruits and vegetables stood around $302 million in the first quarter of 2011. "The government should also pay attention to the development of horticulture sector and should take progressive initiatives to venture for the exploitation of export potential and to search more markets like South American countries, North Africa, Central Asian states and South Asian region.
Similarly, Australia has also shown interest in helping Pakistan to increase production of grapes in Balochistan. A multi-million dollars Australia-Pakistan agriculture sector linkages program is focused on providing knowledge but expertise in key sectors of agri-business is still not available practically. He said: "It's time to wake up and urged that policy for longer duration be drawn up for export of fruits and vegetables through Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Company (PHDEC) with the help of educated and visionary exporters".