LAHORE - Mango farmers are in great distress due to lack of decision making by the Plant Protection Department of the Federal Ministry of National Food Security & Research. Mango exports from India have been banned by the EU, which is a God given opportunity to boost mango exports to E.U from Pakistan. The situation needed immediate decision making at the Provincial & Federal Govt. level. The Provincial Minister for Agriculture Govt of Punjab has shown keen interest but to no avail as the Plant Protection Department of the Ministry of Food Security & Research is proving to be the biggest hurdle in this case. It is promoting monopoly of the Karachi based Hot Water Treatment Plant (HWP) and does not wish to work in the field with the mango farmer to facilitate exports. The facility of Hot Water Treatment presently operational at Karachi only is insufficient to cater for all mango exports, especially of those from Punjab. The D.G. Department of Plant Protection seems reluctant in allowing individual farms which have this facility at their farms to export mangoes to E.U. This red tapism and monopoly protection is discouraging further investment in the sector & also hindering mango exports. The facility at the farmers level has been established with help of FIRMS, a US funded project and has also been recommended by them (letter attached).
The Federal and Provincial Governments are on the one hand committed to promote public private partnership to enhance business activities in the private sector while on the other hand its own institutions are working against these initiatives, even when no public spending is involved.
The inability of the Govt. to allow the use of these facilities to assist in mango exports is beyond imagination.
FAP fully supports mango farmers who invested heavily in these initiatives over the last 3 years to manage the marketing of their hard earned harvests of mango. FAP requests Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, the PM of Pakistan & Mian Mohammad Shahbaz Sharif the CM Punjab to kindly intervene in the matter and allow these farms to export mangoes. This effort would greatly assist in breaking the monopoly of the vested interests & expand the possibilities of increased exports of agriculture produce.