Officials of the Ministry of Commerce and the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council have held a meeting with NARC G1 garlic farmers to explore export potential of the garlic variety. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Association for Excellence in Agriculture (KAFEA) president Muhammad Ismaeel said that garlic is cultivated on 13,347 hectares in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, whereas Pakistan needs an additional 6,460 hectares to bridge the current demand gap.
This target is achievable as there are at least 15 districts in Pakistan where garlic is cultivated on a significant area and cultivation of the G1 garlic can play an instrumental role in meeting this target. He said production volume of garlic was 127,463 tons about two years ago.
President Mohsin Ali from the Punjab Progressive Farmers Association (PPFA) demanded of the government to extend seed-related support to small farmers because seed (cloves of garlic) is a major cost element, comprising over 70 percent of the total cost. He said costly seed is a major barrier to entry for smallholders into the garlic cultivation.
Source: brecorder.com
