Investment needed to cover horticulture trade gap: FPCCI

KARACHI: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) Chairman Standing Committee on Horticulture & Agriculture Produce, Ahmad Jawad has said that Pakistan horticulture can play an important role in the export market with the right investment and policy settings.
Currently Pakistan horticulture exports are around $400 million, which is nothing if compared with Indian horticulture exports worth around $2.7 billion and Chinese exports around $18 billion.
Speaking to a delegation on Friday, he said the effective and operative ways for horticulture and agri sector will definitely enhance the development of the economy.
“I believe in horticulture, a combination of perceptive policy and local institutional support can further shore up farming incomes,” he said, adding provincial governments can help producers move up the value chain (grading, cleaning, and cutting) through dissemination of knowledge and expertise.
He said fruits and vegetables provide more income than food grains, but they need infrastructure and price support.
Jawad said greater emphasis should be put on the development of value-added products to expand Pakistan’s competitiveness in food and agricultural value chains. “Our fruits and vegetables have great potential, which needs to be harnessed to capture hungry world markets,” he said, adding that the world over Pakistani mangoes, dates, and kinnow in particular are in great demand.
He said the sector requires pro active credit policy by the banks, yet project based agri lending in Pakistan is almost non-existable especially in horticulture.
Similarly, Ministry of Commerce and Planning Commission should draft and implement Horticulture Export Policy for 2015-20 on priority basis and make allocations in the PSDP (Public Sector Development Programme) with the consultation of Finance Ministry so that country’s exports could be enhanced.