All Pakistan Fruit & Vegetable Exporters, Importers & Merchants Association (PFVA) has announced a mango export target of 150,000 metric tons for the current mango season which would fetch valuable foreign exchange of USD 127.5 million once the target is attained.
The Patron-in-Chief stated that last year the export target of mango was set as 80,000 tons keeping in view the drastic significant negative impact on the economy due to COVID-19 Pandemic and subsequent logistics challenges, however, due to an extraordinary demand of mangoes globally, the export was enhanced to 140,000 tons, generating a valuable foreign exchange of US$ 120 million.
Waheed Ahmed informed that on one hand Pakistani mango industry of Rs. 100 billion is facing serious issues of climatic changes and scarcity of water while on other hand, limited flight operations, restrictions by numerous destinations on flights & higher air freights increases cost of export, contrary to the last year, the export of mangoes via sea this year faces stiff challenges due to shortage of reefer containers and high freight cost. Of the total export volume of mangoes, 55% is exported by sea, 25% by land routes, and 20% by Air.
The PFVA has urged the Govt. of Pakistan (GoP) that the promising International markets of Russia & China shall be focused on the export of mangoes having immense export potential and strongly recommended conducting Mango promotions for wide publicity of mangoes – Waheed Shared. He further added that by following realistic strategy under the patronage of the GoP, Pakistan can be included in the list of top three mango exporting countries of the world within a period of 4 – 5 years, however, to accomplish that it is imperative to focus our attention on high-value markets such as Japan, USA, Australia, South Korea & China. He stressed the need for an extensive Research & Development (R&D) to improve quality & cosmetic look to get easy access to these markets which have strong faith in the “quality & impressive appearance” of the fruit.
Waheed disclosed that climatic changes are having serious negative impacts on the crops of mangoes for the last five years resulting in a shortage of mango production coupled with further addition of two weeks in the harvesting season of the mango crops & besides delay in maturity of the mango crops the resilient capability of mangoes against various diseases is also getting weakened. Due to these factors, the current mango season is likely to witness a significant drop in the production of mangoes. The overall production of mangoes in the provinces of Sindh & Punjab is anticipated to be 18,00,000 tons, however, due to the effect of the climatic changes the possibility of reduction in production by 15% cannot be ruled out.
According to Waheed Ahmed, the comprehensive research process to evaluate serious impacts of climatic changes on mango crops as well other major crops has not yet been initiated which could have otherwise provided guidance to the farmers & growers and advice for precautionary measures to curtail low productivity and reduce financial losses. The PFVA has already shared with the Federal & Provincial Govts., its comprehensive and realistic research & development plan being an integral part of the “Horticulture Vision-2030”, a road map developed by the PFVA for the uplift of the Horticulture sector & by the implementation of this vision in letter & spirit, the effect of the climatic changes can be drastically minimized.
Waheed emphasized that in order to accomplish the mango export target – cohesive teamwork, support, cooperation, and coordination among all stakeholders including the Department of Plant Protection (DPP), Customs, Sea & Airport authorities is imperative.
