Though Pakistan enjoys a positive trade balance when it comes to fresh produce, exports must increase in the coming years. At least that's the opinion of Waheed Ahmed, director of the All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Importers, Exporters and Merchants Association. That will require cooperation between growers, exporters and the government to take advantage of untapped opportunities and grow the country's agricultural exporters into a billion-dollar enterprise.
“We have to strengthen ourselves,” noted Waheed. “What Pakistan is facing, along with the rest of the world, is lots of change. From erratic weather to global warming, we are facing more natural disasters.” He pointed to the previous mango season, where torrential rains cut production in half in the the Punjab region, which is responsible for growing the majority of the country's mangos. Growers must improve production techniques, come up with new varieties and, in general, improve every aspect of their business in order to adapt to changing conditions.
“Agriculture accounts for 21 percent of the nation's gross domestic product and 45 percent of the workforce is employed through that industry,” said Waheed. “So it's crucial for the industry to manage these things.” Growers must move beyond their reliance on certain big crops, like Kinnow mandarins, for instance, and look for commodities that, while not popular at home, can sell overseas.
“We don't grow avocados, and there's a big market for that in the Middle East, as well as for vegetables like kale, celery and parsley,” said Waheed. “Iran can't grow bananas, and they import $400 million in bananas every year. We can grow and sell them the bananas.”
But he acknowledged that, with Iran in particular, government help will be necessary. Trade regulations and tariffs make it more difficult to send products from Pakistan to Iran than the other way around. Waheed and his colleagues have taken the issue to the Pakistani government, and he's hopeful the issue can get resolved. But that's just one example of why he believes all stakeholders must work together in order to increase exports.
“A grower may not be educated on best practices, but an exporter can help him and teach him good agricultural practices,” explained Waheed. “Our vegetable exports to Europe have declined, so we have to concentrate on this issue to get our vegetables below maximum residue levels established by the European Union and send more vegetables there.” The government is also helping by covering the interest on loans given to growers looking to build greenhouses. That will boost “clean” vegetables and, hopefully, exports to Europe.
The push to take annual exports to $1 billion will take a lot of work and a lot of cooperation among all stakeholders. But the fruits will come in the form of more production, better yields, lower production costs, greater crop diversity and, of course, more sales.
“Our aim is to get good product to Pakistani people and good product to the international market as well," ended Waheed.
