THIS refers to the news item ‘India allows date re-export facility’ (June 14) concerning Indian government’s raising duty of Pakistani exports by 200 per cent after the Pulwama attack in February, ending the trading activities between the two neighbouring countries.

It is government’s failure to identify and develop export market for dates for whose production the country is ranked fifth largest in the world.

Now the focus should be on the crop to be harvested in July and August. A visit planned by Pakistan Horticulture Development Export Company to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal is not the real answer to crisis in date sector.

Date needs value addition to avoid dependence on the Indian market. For this, companies from the date-producing Arab countries and date processers in Europe and America should be invited to attend Pakistan Date Show 2019 that may be held in Karachi in October.

We may find Qatar keenly interested in manufacturing date paste in joint venture at Khairpur Special Economic Zone. Qatar badly needs a reliable source of date paste after Saudi Arabia stopped exporting the product to it as a result of an air, land and sea blockade imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates two years ago.

Sada Hayat Jalbani

Karachi

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2019