CHITRAL, June 19: For want of dehydration facility, proper guidance, packaging and marketing, over 60 per cent of fresh fruit of apricot, white mulberry, wild cherry, pear and apples goes to waste in Chitral and the quantity is fed to animals.

Talking to Dawn here on Sunday, Najeeb Ahmed, an agronomist, associated with a public sector organisation, said that poverty in Chitral could be alleviated considerably if the bulk of the fresh fruit produced in the valley was utilised on commercial lines.

He said that the valley was known for its fabulous product of apricot, white mulberry and apples but no organisation had so far come forward to help raise the household income of the people who were mired in abject poverty.

Mr Ahmed said that as per data collected by an NGO in 2007, apricot, mulberry and apple were grown in about 100 per cent households in the sub-valleys of Mulkhow, Torkhow, Mastuj and Lotkoh.

He said that the data revealed a startling fact that only a fraction of one per cent of the surveyed households dried the superfluous amount of the fresh fruit. He added that there was no marketing facility available in the area to sell the fruits in fresh form.

Mr Ahmed said that the farmers fed their cows and other animals the superfluous amount of fruits.

He said that of late the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) had introduced manufacture of jam and pickle out of the fresh fruits but it could not be generalised as the training facilities were imparted to a very limited population.

He was of the view that the womenfolk could be engaged in the preservation process empowering them economically.

He said some women organisations formed by the AKRSP and SRSP in some villages had successfully launched women-specific projects of income generation.

Expressing his deep sorrow over the marketing of dried apricots from Gilgit and neighbouring areas of Afghanistan, he said that the quality of fruit in Chitral was in no way inferior to that of Gilgit or Afghanistan but there was no dehydration facility in Chitral on scientific lines.

He said that the fruits dried in customary way through direct sunlight lose their pleasant charm, taste and brittleness.