Turkey's downing of a Russian Jet late last year and a poor quality kinnow crop in Pakistan has meant great news for Punjab kinnow growers: the citrus fruit which is normally consumed on the domestic market, will now be exported to Russia, Ukraine and Dubai. It is the first time Kinnows grown in Punjab have entered the export market and growers are expecting healthy returns.
About one million tonnes of kinnow is grown annually in Punjab and used to remain confined to the domestic market, except for minuscule exports to Bangladesh. According to sources in Punjab Horticulture, 40 containers, each containing 26 tonnes of the Kinnow, have been exported during this season. The importing countries have a demand potential of 30-40 containers in a day.
The Punjab Government, in collaboration with the National Horticulture Mission, has been drawing plans to ramp up the infrastructure to facilitate higher volumes next year.
Pakistan has been the traditional kinnow exporter and produces close to 4 million tonnes of kinnow annually but climate change has adversely affected their crop this year,
Kinnow is a citrus fruit (resembling an orange) grown mainly in semi-arid zones of Punjab and is harvested from December to February. The Director of Horticulture Punjab, Gurkanwal Singh, told Business Standard that export realisations are quite lucrative and the state government has started working on the pre-harvest and post-harvest measures in order to retain the edge in the global market.
“The international conditions are conducive for us this year but the competition is fierce. In order to have a sustainable demand by the global consumer we have started providing better extension services to our farmers and pre-cooling systems at the doorsteps of the farmers to ensure a better shelf life of the crop”.
The kinnow tree gives higher crops on alternate years. This season has been a low crop year.
The export of the fruit is being facilitated by Agriculture and Processed Food Products Exports Development Authority and Punjab Agro Industry Corporation.
Source: business-standard.com
