October 21, 2007	Sunday	Shawwal 8, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Oct 20: Deadly fungus has attacked Pakistani chilli again this year during drying process, another bad news for the farmers after the untimely rains cut the country’s overall pepper production by half this season.

It has been more than three years that the European Union (EU) has banned the import of red chilli from Pakistan due to aflatoxin problems. Japan is another country which has stopped import of Pakistani chilli powder.

This situation has helped India enjoy monopoly in the EU market despite the fact that the Indian chilli is considered to be of lower quality compared to Pakistan’s.

The Red Chillies Growers’ Association has warned the government of “huge financial” losses to farmers if the same state of complete negligence on the part of the government goes on, an official of the federal food ministry told Dawn.

He said that the association had now warned the federal ministry of food, agriculture and livestock (Minfal) to do something and introduce the modern methods of drying to avoid fungus.

He said the association’s president, Mian Saleem, has also appealed to Minfal and Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Board (PHDEB) to make the EU lift ban and improve local production.

The Minfal official said that Pakistan had yet to make true assessment of the international chilli market. India, despite having low quality chilli, occupied the major world markets with the help of advanced technologies.

This year, the production of chilli has decreased by 49.6 per cent as 32.4 per cent area of the crop decreased due to excessive rains in Sindh particularly in Tharparkar area where untimely rains had caused a considerable reduction in production compared to last year.

Moreover, harvest losses this year were also higher compared to last year.

This year, Pakistan achieved 61,900 tons of chilli compared to 122,900 tons last year.