THIS refers to the letter ‘Makran: plea for date factories’ (Aug 16) by Muhammad Bakhsh Baloch. The writer is right when he says that the government should establish date factories in Makran so that this precious fruit is processed and marketed besides creating jobs for the locals.

I would like to narrate a small incident that happened a few years ago. I was invited by CC&I, D.I. Khan, to deliver a lecture on Quality/ISO 9001 at a seminar.

During the question-answer session, a date farmer stood up and said that he had 2,000 kg of dates lying with him, but due to the unavailability of processing facilities the fruit would go to waste.

The way things move in our country, I don’t think that any action would have been taken till now.

It was a pity to see dates lying on the roadside in D.I. Khan exposed to all sorts of dust due to the heavy traffic on the roads.

When these dates are seen microscopically in laboratories, they seem to be full of dust particles which would look like stones in a microscope. Will any foreign importer buy such dates from Pakistan?

One would be amazed to know that D.I. Khan produces so many varieties of finest dates which I happened to see displayed in a dates exhibition after the said seminar.

I think the government should look into this genuine demand of date growers.

A.K. Rawalpindi