Iran used to import 100,000 tons of citrus (kinoo) per annum from Pakistan by road which was stopped in 1978. Last year, our kinoo export was over 75,000 tons which shows that even in 25 years, the country has not been able to equal the volume share in the Iranian market.
Iranian market is the easiest one to reach for Pakistan for it does not involve any freight and shipping problems. According to the Pakistan Apple/Citrus Export Board (PACEB), Iran had suddenly stopped import of kinoo without assigning any reason. However, the reason was the quarantine problem. Pakistani kinoo is banned in Philippines due to fruitfly. It is for the same reason, Pakistan cannot export mangoes to many countries, particularly Japan, China, and Australia. To get access in to the market of these countries, fruits are required to be free from fruitfly eggs and larvae. Unfortunately, fruits and vegetable treatment facilities against fruitfly in Pakistan are still in a trial stage. The World Bank, meanwhile predicts an increase in insect pest due to increased international trade and global climate change.
No doubt, the importance of conventional synthetic insecticides in many pest control strategies cannot be challenged but the consequences of wide-spread application of these broad-spectrum pesticides have resulted in the outbreak of secondary pests, besides destruction of natural enemies of the target insects as well. In the light of these facts, there is an urgent need to develop and implement more environment-friendly methods to manage insects pests, one such method being the “sterile insect technique” (SIT) which is biologically-based and therefore more sustainable.
The SIT which may be described as a form of insect birth control is carried out on area basis.
It involves breeding in huge quantities of target insects in a “factory” and sterilizing males by exposing them to low doses of radiation. These sterile male flies are then released by air over infested areas, to mate with wild females. If sterile males vastly outnumber fertile wild males, wild fly population becomes extinct. The proportion of infertile males to fertile wild males must be at least 10:1.
Fruitflies seriously interfere with the international marketing of fruits and vegetable commodities. Few insects have greater impact on world trade than fruitflies and the SIT is seen as a major tool within recognized fly-free or low prevalence areas to overcome these barriers. The department of plant protection responsible for maintaining the quarantine regulatory services been urged by the PACEB to invite the Philippines plant protection experts to inspect orchards and other export facilities in Pakistan so that ban on citrus export to Philippines could be lifted.
It is not understood how the said department could persuade Philippines officials to lift the ban on the import of citrus from Pakistan unless fruitfly-free or low prevalence area is created or fruitfly treatment facilities are developed in the country.
So far as the SIT is concerned, it is not quite new for Pakistan. In early 1970’s to overcome fruitfly problem in Karachi region, a project to this effect was initiated in the radio-isotope section of the department of plant protection under the supervision of the then advisor and director of the said department. But following the shifting of the research wing of the PARC, this very pioneer venture was abandoned.
However, the importance of the SIT could be gauged from the fact that the FAO and the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) has helped Chile and Mexico to eradicate the Mediterranean fruitfly (medfly) Ceratitis capitata, (which is not found in Pakistan and thus considered as exotic quarantine pest) using the same technique. The UN agencies are currently assisting officials in Argentina, Guatemala and several countries to eradicate this pest or establish pest-free zones. The technique is also being used for vector control. Recently a new campaign to control the deadly tsetse fly in Africa (parasitic carrier of sleeping sickness) has been launched by the Organization of African Unity.
Suggestion: After implementation of the WTO accord in 2005, agricultural export will face many technical trade barriers including the sanitary and phytosanitory issues.
To overcome these barriers it is warranted that environment-friendly methods to manage insect pests, particularly of fruits and vegetables, are taken well in time.