HYDERABAD: Agriculturists, economists, progressive farmers and researchers have lamented the situation where agriculture sector in Sindh is hostage to commission agents, who, instead of farmers, fix prices of farm products.

They said the farm sector was not meeting needs of raw materials for textile industry so there was need to explore alternatives. One of the major reasons was that agriculture sector had failed to give desired results because industrial sector had stopped investing in it for a long time, they said.

They were speaking at inauguration ceremony of the 5th Banana Festival 2023 organised by Sindh Agriculture University (SAU), Tandojam, in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Agri-Tourism Development Corporation, Tech-Saeein, Mishal, PAR, M.H. Panhwar Farms and Durrani Farms on Monday.

SAU vice chancellor Dr Fateh Marri said that over 3.5 million tonnes of valuable banana waste was burnt every year although it could be used to produce by-products, including fiber, composite fertilisers, confectionery and cosmetics.

They tell audience at 5th Banana Festival over 3.5m tonnes of valuable fibre-producing waste is torched every year in Pakistan

He suggested formation of a banana research group comprising public, private and industrial sectors along with research institutes and growers, and hoped that this group could become part of World Banana Forum in future.

Shah Abdul Latif University VC Dr Khalil Ahmed Ibupoto said that if SALU, SAU and research institutes collaborated to establish a large tissue culture laboratory for resistant plants of banana, date palm and other fruits, then demand for disease-free tissue culture plants could be met.

University of Sufism and Modern Sciences VC Dr Parveen Munshi said that today was an era of commercialisation and there was scope for value chain in agriculture. Like mangoes, banana value chain and marketing also needed attention, she said.

Agriculture Research Sindh director general Noor Mohammad Baloch said that availability of banana varieties and tissue culture plants was a problem and institutions were playing their part to resolve it.

Karachi Chamber of Commerce vice president Mohammad Younis Soomro said that agriculture of Sindh was hostage to commission agents while agricultural production was the only sector where farmers did not set rates.

Textile Institute of Pakistan’s head Dr Abdul Jabbar said that 20pc of raw materials the textile industry needed in the world were supplied by fibre extracted from bananas and other items while this valuable waste was burnt away here.

A progressive farmer, Haji Muhammad Umar Bughio, said that if Iran, Afghanistan and China did not import bananas from Pakistan no one would plant bananas so there was a need to think over value chain.

Agha Zafarullah Durrani of Durrani Farms said that five million tissue culture plants were needed annually. “During flood, 600,000 acres of banana crop were destroyed,” he said.

Nosherwan Mughal, Mohsin Khan, Dr Mohammad Ismail Kumbhar, Dr Shaukat Ali Abro, Dr Tahseen Fatima Miano, and others also spoke at the festival.

Experts read out papers on banana development, value chains, by-products and exports.

An exhibition on bananas was also organised on the sidelines of the festival.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2023