USAID Pakistan’s firms running successful program for date farmers
The contribution of the agriculture sector to Pakistan’s GDP growth is 24 percent and the horticulture sub-sector makes up 12 percent of the share. Date farming and processing is a developing industry in the country and Pakistan is the fifth largest producer of dates in the world with a growing international market share of around six to eight percent. There are 7,000 to 8,000 date farms, six to eight date processing facilities, and 110 date traders in Khairpur district of Pakistan’s Sindh province alone.
The harvest season of dates in Khairpur district starts from the end of June until the mid of August. Women make up 70 percent of the workforce at the dates processing level. Total dates exports are a meager USD 41 million, or 124,804 MT, which is only 18.4 percent of the total date production in Pakistan.
Improper post-harvest handling and lacking disease management by farmers have traditionally resulted in a high wastage ratio. There is an absence of best farming practices and wooden boxes are used for storage and for transportation of dates to the market, increasing the chances of damage to the product, physical contamination, and bacterial infestation. Lack of farm machinery and access to finance are also keeping Pakistan’s date farming sector from realizing its full potential.
There is a lack of training in international business and export marketing practices among processors. Workers lack basic skills in quality control and food safety measures. Processing facilities are subject to financial and operational constraints and a major share of the international market remains untapped due to a lack of exposure.
USAID, through its Firms project is striving to increase the economic value of Pakistani dates through wastage reduction at the date farm small and medium enterprise (SME) level and date processor SME level. The project aims to increase the ratio of higher value-added fresh dates in the annual production of the country, which is currently dominated by low-priced dried dates.
For this, the project is implementing a comprehensive training program for date farm SMEs and their workforce on-farm practices, disease management, and food safety standards. Trainings on food safety, export marketing and packaging, business communication, quality management systems, and production management are being provided to date processor SMEs and their staff.
In-kind assistance is being provided to farmer and processor SMEs through a cost-sharing mechanism. Farmers are being given standardized food-grade plastic crates, plastic tables, boom sprayers, date palm dryers, hand carts, etc. Assistance provided to processors will include standardized food-grade plastic crates, plastic palettes, cold stores, forklifts, metal detectors, and marketing/branding and packaging material designs. Date processor SMEs are also being assisted in acquiring quality assurance and food safety standard certifications which will increase the scope, reliability, traceability, and acceptability of their products in the international market.
In the future, the program will assist processor SMEs in creating international market linkages through participation in international trade fairs to enhance their business outreach and to increase their product’s visibility in the international market.
The estimated impact of the interventions is spread over five years and is projected to yield an incremental income of USD 1.5 million for targeted SMEs from the date farming and processing sector.
For more information:
Haroon Shuaib
USAID Firms Project
Tel: +92 (51) 282 21 49-52, Ext. 3011
Mob: +92 344 448 5085
[email protected]