KNOWN as the “king of Pakistani fruits”, are mangoes receiving their due? The public is generally pleased because even in the highly inflationary present times, price of this fruit of some exceptionally delicious varieties have not skyrocketed; they have indeed remained on the lower side in comparison with many other fruits. However, the public’s joy has been the despair of growers because they could not get the right price for their product, including its choicest varieties.

But they had a chance for compensation through exports. If one went by statistics provided by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Board (PHDEB), the export of the fruit had set an all-time record in 2004-05 and was heading towards overtaking that achievement this year.

The export of Pakistan’s mangoes, according to official figures made available at the 14th National Expo of Summer Fruit stated that mango exports had gone up by $36 million in the past two seasons. This is a tremendous improvement that mango exports were finally making effective and rewarding headway but do ground conditions support this claim?

Hardly. While PHDEB was up about two years back, there is little to its credit except organizing exhibitions or holding meetings, of course about the development and export of fruit, including mangoes, but on the concrete side, there is nothing to show for its existence.

Nothing has been done to establish cold chains, improve quality of horticulture export and transportation for fruit, promoting grading, shining and packaging of fruit to ensure that exports met established international standards and that exporters had easy access to international airports so that the highly perishable commodity of fruits was exported quickly and without damage.

One of the most vital requirements of mango growers is promoting research. Nothing has been done on this count so far. No special mango export processing zone has been established up to now despite the fact that Multan was declared Mango City quite a few years back.

Southern Punjab has been cited as a region for special development undertakings by the Government of Punjab more than once. This is, of course, for political reasons but development work and politics go hand-in-hand and governments try to win the goodwill and votes of people by catering to their needs.

However, support for mango growers of southern Punjab who produce Chaunsa and Anwar Ratol, two of the most fabulous and mouth watering varieties of the country, does not feature in the announced plans of the provincial government.

Similarly, Sindh has the Sindhri variety distinguished for its sweet pulp but its export has not been promoted and whatever the quantum of export, it is the result of growers realizing the needs of foreign markets and organizing their cargo of mangoes accordingly. This is true of Punjab as well. The growers could do better with government support in many areas but that has not been forthcoming. Of promises, there, however, has been no shortage.

Here it must be pointed out that exports can be organized only by owners of large orchards on their own; growers with small ones have no hope of reaching foreign markets and the governments. Both federal and provincial have done nothing to provide guidance and assistance to them. They should be helped, particularly in Punjab where the number of such growers is considerable. The provincial government can tie support for them with its poverty amelioration plans.

Lip service is available to growers in abundance both from officials from within the country and foreign experts. One of the suggestions floated by an official some time back was for export of mangoes by sea routes in refrigerated containers in view of high transport charges of airlines. This is the surest way of undermining mango exports, for that matter of all fruits that may be proposed to be exported by sea.

Airlines are the only quick and effective means for exporting perishable items. Foreign airlines would obviously have no interest in giving rebates to Pakistani exporters of mangoes but Pakistan International Airline, the national carrier can do that. Indeed, it must be asked to provide special rates to exporters of mangoes or other perishable commodities and the government should find a way of compensating the airline.

Exports by sea would take weeks and result in the loss of many of the markets that growers have built with hard work, tenacity of purpose and ingenuity over the years and leave them for the exploitation of other mango growing countries. We should go for transportation by sea, if the established exports are to be eliminated.

A study also needs to be undertaken for ascertaining eating habits of importing countries as also potential importers to know if they prefer high or low sugar content in their eatables. This would be a great help to exporters but this should not be done by officials of the government to turn the idea in to a vehicle for pleasure trips abroad by officials; officials should just assist and to some extent, finance growers in this undertaking.

Officials briefed journalists at the 14th National Expo of Summer Fruits about major importers of Pakistani mangoes. They are United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman and United Kingdom. It is surprising that closely located countries like Iran and Turkey have not been tapped. The two countries can be developed as major markets for Pakistani mango.

An interesting statement was made by the President of Horticulture Foundation of Pakistan at the Expo that Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong had shown interest in various varieties of Pakistani mangoes.

But one does no see many investors forming a queue for putting their money in areas that would be rewarding. If there is a proposition from any country, that should be communicated to exporters instead of seeking publicity through such statements suggesting that exporters were being served.

The government would do better to set up facilities that mango exporters have been seeking for years but not receiving because official agencies have other priorities and prefer to take credit for already established exports instead of wasting their time, money and resources on events that do little, indeed nothing to increase exports but convey the impression that a lot is being done to build exports of mangoes and other fruits. Concrete measures, not eloquence is required for increasing exports.