Mango growers association Pakistan

The president of Mango Growers Association Pakistan Syed Zahid Hussain Gardezi has said that the technological advances made globally for the benefit of Mango Industry should be made available and accessible to Small and Medium Mango Growers without discrimination.

He was addressing a Mango GlobalGap workshop in a local hotel organized by USAID FIRMS Project. He said keeping the major segment of mango sector deprived for long will not be in the interest of Mango Industry. There is an urgent need to build strong linkages to create contemporary  Infrastructure and transfer of technologies developed in isolations at different public and private model farms of progressive and influential growers to their targeted Small and Medium beneficiaries to help wipe off wide spread inefficiencies in our system of value chain.  Zahid Gardezi said that the constituency of mango is very wide spread, from Sahiwal in central Punjab to the outreaches of Sindh in Hyderabad. This 1000Kms stretch with 100Kms of spread all along the Indus river has majority of Small & Medium mango growers, who have no access both to the knowledge base of mango industry and to the facilitation offered by the concerned agencies.

Zahid Hussain Gardezi denoted strong inequalities in the distribution of assets in Pakistan, particularly land and water and stated that only about 2 percent of the households control more than 45 percent of the land area. Large and influential farmers have also captured the subsidies in water and agriculture, as well as the benefits of agricultural growth and incentives. Agriculture credit schemes have also mostly benefited large farmers who have capitalized the inherent subsidies since last 62 years at the cost of smaller farmers and rural populace.

Mr. Gardezi stated that Pakistani Mango Industry suffers from lack of modernization and investment in appropriate contemporary technologies particularly  Small and Medium growers, who comprise the majority in mango sector find it extremely difficult to invest in capital intensive activities On-Farm.

He said that Mango Growers Association Pakistan (MGAP) has undertaken protracted struggle to highlight the problems and miseries of mango growers which if addressed could transform rural economy into goldmine of opportunities as we face the surge in global food scarcity and a rising demand for exotic fruits

Syed Zahid Hussain Gardezi said that there is dire need for radical and realistic permutations in our agriculture policies and implementation prioritizing development of agri-infrastructure at each stage of value chain especially On-Farm.

Zahid Hussain Gardezi proposed modernization and technological transformation in mango industry through development of “Mango Clusters” having a real mix of large, medium and small growers in every District having mango as prime fruits under Public Private Partnership and stressed the exigency of Pack House and harvesting technologies for every cluster 

He demanded that Industry Associations should be strengthened and Mango Growers Association Pakistan should be taken on board as executing and handling agency of the Mango Clusters. 

The workshop was addressed by renowned Mango Expert Dr. David Picha on mango Industry problems. The anchorperson from FIRMS project Asad Zahoor spoke about the role of Development Agencies in providing Technical & Financial support  to farmers for Good agriculture Practices. The Growers were briefed about GlobalGAP requirements and necessity.

Al Murtaza
Mango growers association Pakistan
12-B, S.M.KASWAR GARDEZI ROAD,
MULTAN
 

Publication date: 11/4/2009

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