Dates traders of Khairpur demand access to EU market

SUKKUR: Sindh Chamber of Agriculture, Khairpur, and Date Palm Growers Association have demanded the government to provide access to European markets to export dates and also requested to install cold storages and other facilities in the district.

The president of Dates Palm Growers Association Khairpur and president of Sindh Chamber of Agriculture Nisar Hussain Khaskheli told the media that both the forums are holding meetings with the the representatives of Trade Development Authorities of Pakistan (TDAP) and demanded them to provide access to the European markets for dates exporters of Khairpur.

Nisar said the association tried to draw attention over the recent escalation of tension between India and Pakistan. India has refused to import Pakistani dry dates that caused millions of rupees losses to the local growers. He said India has launched dates plantation in Rajanpur through tissue culture and in near future India will not import dry dates from Pakistan.

The traders’ representative urged the TDAP to import new varieties of tissue culture from the UAE for the local date growers to meet the challenges of the production. He also demanded the provincial government to install packing units, modern cold storage.

Besides all these, TDAP should organise international dates’ exhibitions, conduct trainings for farmers, set up weather resilient incubators for sustainability and vacuum dryers.