Chitral Times Report
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research, Sahibzada Mehboob Sultan visited the “Citrus Export Processing Unit” in Bhalwal; Sargodha. The purpose of today’s gathering is to interact with stakeholders and exporters and work to make our citrus export more promising. Federal Minister said that he was pleased to share that this year two new international markets of Philippines and China, for citrus are open for Pakistan. Federal Minister said that the purpose of this meeting/gathering is to reiterate the resolve of enhancing the dwindling export of Pakistan; he commended the organizers for selecting the subject/title of the ceremony which according to the Minister was quite appropriate. Meboob Sultan said that God has blessed our land with immense natural resources and our land is most fertile, we have best farmers, agriculture marketing experts at our disposal, but ironically we could not get/achieve desired results. There is a lack of administration or management of channeling those resources. He further said that he had firm belief that our food experts and economists could work out a viable solution for food self-sufficiency, not just this but through quality exports Pakistan could access lucrative international markets. “Once again I say that Pakistan is blessed with one of the best natural agro resources”, said the Federal Minster. Pakistan stands unique in production of certain agricultural crops; Punjab holds an exclusive position internationally for production and “Kinnow” is our pride and “my heart swells with pride that Pakistani kinnow is exported to 58 countries across the world”. Mehboob Sultan said it is very heartening to note that Pakistan has targeted China & Philippines markets for kinnow export and expected boost in kinnow/citrus export is about 20%. Last year Pakistan exported 30,000 ton kinnow to Indonesia; it is the second biggest market after Russia Mr. Mehboob said that presently we are facing many challenges internationally European union and other developed countries of the world are erecting barriers for agro exports. America, Australia, Japan, Korea even few central Asian countries are not importing Pakistani kinnow anymore and those who are importing are not paying attractive exchange. The world is setting new standards for imports there are SPS, pesticide residue elimination, cold treatment and pest free area. These are difficult and costly and hence affecting our exports to a considerable level. Federal Minister said; we are in dire need of self-accountability and through that ameliorate our condition and we should be grateful to God for the immense resources bestowed upon our country. All we need to do is to follow the principles of integrated management and good agro products and if we don’t move ahead in that direction then we are betraying our future generations. Federal Minster said that we are facing two problems of citrus: citrus canker and citrus graining which is detrimental to “kinnow” exports and European Union, Australia and America banned the export from countries where these diseases are reported in citrus fruit. The time is testing but we have to work in collaboration to continue to stay part of international trade and we have to adopt new methods and bring our production in line of SPS standards defined by WTO. Mr. Sultan assured that being a public representative, he will extend his help and request all concerned to come up with a comprehensive plan containing: i. Facility for inspection of diseases. ii. Disease control program iii. Build nurseries for disease free saplings. iv. Ensure observance of GAP and IPM standards. v. Access to new and profitable international markets. We believe in ease of doing business and hence our ministry has established facilitation centre at Bhalwal, where Department of Plant Protection’s inspectors would facilitate exporters regarding inspection and issuance of SPS Certificate. Federal Secretary Dr. Hashim Popalzai and other senior officials of the Ministry were also present on the occasion.
