FOR a veteran mango grower like Ghulam Sarwar Abro the introduction and implementation of modern farming techniques in his mango orchards is crucial. It ensures a higher price and grabs a slot for Sindh’s mangoes in the international market.

Like-minded mango growers, after adopting modern agricultural practices, have begun exporting mangoes to countries such as Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Canada and Saudi Arabia directly from their farms instead of relying on Karachi-based exporters.

Abro and five other mango growers comprise the Sindh Mango Growers and Exporters (SMGE), which manages 1,200 acres of mango orchards with around 5,000 tonnes of mangoes processed through five pack houses. Of the five pack houses, three have hot water treatment (HWT) facilities, a prerequisite for export to high-end supermarkets abroad.

The SMGE learned modern farming practices with the assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as well as Australian experts under the Agriculture Sector Linkage Programme (ASLP).

After adopting modern agricultural practices, SMGE has begun exporting mangoes to countries such as Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, and Saudi Arabia directly

“We have been exporting around 200,000 kilogrammes of mangoes to high-end supermarkets of Europe and other countries which were not explored before our mangoes reached there.

“So, we have in fact proved that mangoes from this region of Pakistan can end up in those markets after meeting parameters of processing and packaging internationally”, says Mahmood Nawaz Shah, one of the growers.

Shah explains it was a huge achievement for the SMGE to get international certifications for mango orchards and to meet international parameters. He believes that conventionally mangoes end up in open and ethnic markets of Dubai, the United Kingdom and the Gulf region, but not in high-end markets.

“Around 500m consumers are there in the European market of which 70 per cent opt for high-end markets. And this 70pc of buyers is yet to be targeted which can’t be done in absence of governmental support”, he contends.

Establishment of a pack house required for processing is an innovative measure. Abro and others established such houses after adopting practices such as high density farming, use of fungicides, soil mechanism control, etc.

They invested in labour, fruits and infrastructure. Under USAID growers were provided equipment for HWT, grading, packing, blast chillers and cold storage. Mangoes are plucked carefully before treatment and the fruit is then placed on a sorting panel.

Labourers remove defective mangoes before they are washed and dipped in hot water for three to five minutes at 52 degrees centigrade. HWT treatment kills anthracnose disease normally transferred to the fruit from trees. The fruit is then graded and packed in cartoons with the farm’s traceability mark.

Growers, however, feel that the federal government should promote marketing in the international market, and invest in research and development. Shah believes that their processing capacity is underutilised and they need to export at least 10-20pc of their 5,000 tonnes.

Growers linked to the SMGE sell mangoes for Rs70 per kg and those who process them completely at their own farms earn extra profit, according to Abro. After exporting roughly 200,000kg the remaining is sold in the domestic market.

The SMGE has also generated employment opportunities; however, it is mostly skilled labourers who get jobs at pack houses. Modernised farming practices are uncommon in mango production. Growers do not handle their own farms, but rather lease them out to contractors, who are interested in the crop’s size alone.

Some growers have even done away with orchards, finding mangoes to be less profitable compared to wheat, sugarcane and cotton crops. For them contractors are able to get a better deal in the wholesale market.

A mango producer who received Rs20 million from a contractor for an 85 acre mango orchard believes that it is easier to get a fixed amount from a contractor instead of relying on erratic market forces.

Abro is of the view that growers need to learn modern farming. He says that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would in the days to come provide huge opportunities to export mango to China by road, which would be an inexpensive route compared to sea and air.

Abro says that his farm located in Thatta district had been approved by Chinese experts during their inspection for export in 2016.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, July 2nd, 2018