LAHORE, Dec 27: The United States of America has agreed to import mangoes from Pakistan, provided exporters can meet the quality standards. The American nod came on Tuesday after a video-conference between the US Department of Foreign Agriculture and representatives of Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal).

According to the officials of Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Board which is the prime motivator of talks between the USA and Pakistan, a delegation of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) visited the country in mid-December. The board took the delegates to various facilities in the country ensuring quality of fruit. The US officials expressed satisfaction on them.

The US officials, on their part, demanded treatment of fruit fly at the pre-harvest level and fruit irradiation at post-harvest level. Pakistan could ensure both, says Baber Ihsan Bajwa of PHDEB. The Punjab Government is running a full-fledged programme on fruit fly and the irradiation plant. Pakistan Radiation Services (PARAS Food) would be operational by March next. The USDA has certainly provided a window of opportunity, and exporters from Pakistan must grab it, he said.

Meeting the strict US quality standards are key to export to the American market and the board is ready to help provided the exporters can put up the required effort, he said.

The only issue is shelf-life of mango, which is too short to be exported by sea. Export by air renders fruit commercially non-viable. Pakistan has experimented on increasing shelf-life of mangoes and it has met some kind of success. If the life of mango could be increased by two more weeks from the present 10 days , there are chances of Pakistan’s export increasing many-folds.

The US could become big market for Pakistani mango, says a fruit exporter from Lahore, if quality could be taken care of. The US consumers are getting weary of Mexican mangoes -- the main exporter -- because of its taste. This gives an opportunity to Pakistani mango.

The US consumers could offer a price that even allows export by air. The decisive factor there will be quality rather than price, he said. Pakistan horticulture managers have to take a holistic view of the entire chain, from pre-harvest management to foreign markets. It involves developing sensitivity for quality, weave quality in production system and developing required infrastructure. Unless that is done, the country may not be able to break into US and European markets, where quality standards are very strict, but offer better price. If the country is to break from present stagnation in horticulture, it has to go for high-price markets like the USA. That is how it could achieve $500 million target in next five years, he said and added: "Once exporters started getting those prices, the rest of infrastructure would follow. Better export prices mean better returns for farmers, processors and all other stakeholders of the chain. The board should concentrate all its efforts on high price market and rest will adjust to those high demands."