RAHIM YAR KHAN: The mango production in district Rahim Yar Khan is expected to decrease by 40pc this year due to climate change while the fruit will arrive in the market after a delay of two weeks, orchard owners told Dawn.

Muhammad Din Jam, a mango farmer of Ganganagar, says there are orchards on more than 70,000 acres of the four tehsils of Rahim Yar Khan, most of them in north western belt between the national highway and the Indus river. Quoting some traders, he says the district produces 700,000 metric tonne fruit.

Jam says the first variety of mangoes would reach the market after Eidul Fitr. He adds that the changing weather patterns have affected the mango yield and time of its ripening.

“During the flowering season of the fruit, windstorms and hailstorms occurred frequently while mango fruit is also dropping from the trees before time,” he informs.

Rashid Mehmood, another farmer from Muhammadpur, laments that the country earns foreign exchange worth billions from the mango export but there is no such facility in Rahim Yar Khan, which contributes to the fruit export a lot. He has demanded the government facilitate the mango orchard owners for increasing production.

Haji Nazir Katpal of Yousafabad says Rahim Yar Khan is the core mango producing area after Sindh where the maximum number of varieties of the fruit is produced.

He says initially a pulp industry should be established in this area, which could save a huge quantity of mango pulp. Similarly, he adds, the growers should be given cold storage, chain transportation, processing and grading and air cargo facilities.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2020