Chairman, Standing Committee on Agriculture Produce & Horticulture, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI), Ahmad Jawad, has said that citrus is major contributor in the Pakistan horticulture exports, which requires a professional board to work with the private sector and to overcome the bottlenecks in its exports.
Chairing a meeting, Jawad said that they need such body under public private partnership, which should actively lobby on issues such as export market access and development; bio-security and quarantine and industrial relations. As almost 21 million metric ton citrus was being produced ver 450,000 acres of land in the province of Punjab, out of which Sargodha was producing almost 1.1 million metric ton from over 224,000 acres. He added that Kinnow was being cultivated at over 154,000 hectare of land which was almost 84pc of the whole citrus fields while the kinnow production was over 1,876,000 metric tons.
In this regard, he said, the government must take steps to bring improvement in this sector and making the farmers prosper. Regarding the upcoming Kinnow season, Jawad said that with quantity and quality improving, by and large upcoming season will be good for kinnow exporters. Farmers and exporters are optimistic that the total quantum may cross a healthy figure of 300,000 tonnes, he added.
Though major boost in export came from the Afghan market last year, which is estimated to have consumed half of foreign sales of kinnow. Though officially bound for Afghanistan, many consignments went right up to Central Asian states. Afghanistan became the transit for supplies to the former Soviet states, he added. But Russia remained an attractive market. The presence of Pakistani exporters is increasing there, he added.
This year private sector has fully demonstrated that the foreign markets have appetite for quality fruits and are ready to pay for it as well. As one billion dollars worth export of kinnow, introducing new varieties and value-added products is not a big task in near future, provided the required steps are taken, he added.