SINDH’S date palm sector remains under-developed for want of value addition, modern date maturing process and cold storage facilities.

Some initiatives are said to be in the pipeline in the Khairpur Special Economic Zone (KSEZ) where incentives like one-time duty waiver on machinery import and 10-year tax holiday are being offered to investors setting up date processing plants.

At least half a dozen projects are planned to be set up in the zone for packaging, storage, dehydration etc, with at least one company hoping to start a dates maturing plant and cold storage before the upcoming date palm season.

Around six acres are earmarked for each project — four acres for cold storage and two acres for crop maturing (dehydration) plant — according to company representative Fuad Keher.

“There is a lot of potential for date export, but Sindh fails to capitalise on it for want of value addition like packaging, improved preservation methods and modern ripening process,” he says.

The date palm sector requires a paradigm shift towards varietal development, packaging and value

addition to create more space in a competitive international market

Usually, processed dates are stored at a certain temperature before either being packed in various forms (as fruit) or diverted to syrup and paste lines.Value addition is also done by stuffing nuts or coating the fruit with chocolate.

Initially, the company will process dates for conversion into syrup and later chocolate-coating etc for exports. Sindh contributes around 50pc of the total dates output of the country, with Khairpur district having almost a 90pc share.

Sindh’s annual production is recorded at 300,000 tonnes. But the fruit hardly fetches an attractive price despite its taste and aroma.

A Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) official says 14,742 kilograms of fresh dates worth Rs1.494m and 151,708kgs of dry dates worth Rs7.507m were exported during 2013-14.

With a major contribution from Khairpur, the exports of dry dates increased primarily due to strong demand in the Indian market from 2011-12 to 2013-14.

Under the new maturing process, the date crop would be plucked when it gets 30-35pc brown in colour, partially from the top, for 36 hours processing in the plant’s chambers that would ripen it under a controlled temperature.

The processed fruit could be preserved in cold storage for around nine months which would then be fit for export and local sales.

The plant in question would process around 8-10 tonnes per day of aseel variety while it has a cold storage capacity of 3,000 tonnes.

Currently, after Sindh’s dates are sold by traders in local and international market, the same is often sold under a different brand name in the retail market.

Growers like Qasim Jaskani have cultivated 15 different varieties on trial basis to boost their sales. He says that growers don’t take interest in innovative techniques as they lack capital for it.

The TDAP official stresses on the need for the growers to adopt modern date farming techniques the way they have done in improving mango farming practices.

The Sindh Abadgar Board vice president says the date palm sector requires a paradigm shift towards varietal development, packaging and value addition to create more space in a competitive international market.

According to KSEZ marketing officer Ehsan Idris, at least half a dozen plants are at different stages of planning, approvals and initial stages of execution.

In most cases, land has been allotted to companies which have paid one or two installments They have to get their building plans approved by Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) and secure permission from KSEZ management for it.

About civic amenities, Idris says 5MW of electricity is expected to be provided in July by Sukkur Electric Supply Company while, water supply and sewerage lines have been laid.

Under public- private partnership, 20MW of electricity is planned to be generated from municipal waste. KSEZ’s saleable area spreads over 83 acres out of 143 acres. Sixty percent area is reserved for agro food industry, 30pcr agro non food industry and 10pc for light engineering.

Published in Dawn, Business & Finance weekly, May 16th, 2016