Fruit exporters demand cargo facilities

PESHAWAR: The farmers and exporters of fruits and vegetables have asked the government and Pakistan International Authority (PIA) to provide them space in Cargo to compete with their competitors in international markets, better trade and foreign exchange for the country.

Talking to journalists, prominent grower of best quality of fruits and vegetable Azmat Nawaz said the local farmers have been producing best quality of fruits and vegetables since long, which were very popular in foreign markets but we could not export them only because of the space problems in airlines.

Murad Enterprises, Sunny International Exporter, Agro-Dynamic, Saeed Traders, Sahi International and some others were exporting vegetables. The officials complained Afghanistan, Iran, Bangladesh and others countries were offering facilities to exporters and rebates excluding Pakistan.

"We have been receiving demands and have the capabilities to export vegetables and earn foreign exchange in billions if the authorities take our problem serious," said Azmat Nawaz while referring towards huge production of best quality of vegetables in his 600 Kanal agricultural land in Sardheri, district Charsadda. Nawaz who was stated to be the first among the local farmers for introducing hanging crops in the area in 1996 but now many others are also producing best quality of vegetables in almost all the districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The vegetables, with special taste and color, are stated to be very popular in Europe, Middle East beside Afghanistan and Central Asian countries. The growers claimed they could arrange all the required vegetables but the exporters could not take it to their market due to space problems in Cargo. The growers said the vegetables, could easily be exported to the Central Asian States including Uzbekistan, Kazakistan, Kirghistan through Kabul by road but they had space problems in PIA if they tried export their product to Middle East and Europe.

For the Middle East, they said Dubai was the main market for vegetables, which were later transported to other countries including Abu Dubai, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia etc. The growers from India, Bangladesh and Iran also export their products but the vegetables from Pakistan were sold at double prices than those of their competitors. The growers said since the vegetables are exported in passengers' flights and the space in Cargo is always limited particularly for the vegetables.

In case of any emergency, the authorities usually upload their vegetables instead of other items ignoring the fact it would be useless after one day. The uploading of vegetable and fruits, he said badly affects the quality of their products and also their market. According to agreement, the growers are bound to provide their product in the market in its specific time. "The contractors usually purchase the vegetables from others and get the pavement from us," said Nawaz. Their competitors from India and China, he said were getting 50 to 100 percent rebate from their respective countries but here in Pakistan, the PIA increases their fare and the others airlines follow them multiplying problems of exporters and farmers. He said the authorities could save billions of rupees if they make alternate arrangements or stop uploading their perishable products. "We can earn foreign exchange, create job opportunities, promote business and make agriculture as profitable business if the rulers make our approach easy to international market by sea.

The other countries brought their products in Referral Container in Cool Chain System. The farmers said they could take vegetables in container from Peshawar to Gawadar within 24 hours. It, they said would take another 24 hours to reach to Dubai airport while the exporters from India and other countries brought their products within four to five days.

The exporters could export hundreds and thousands of tons vegetables by sea and meet the demands of international markets, which was not possible by air. They said the government should frame policies for exporting vegetables and fruits by sea and the rest of the work would be done by investors themselves.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011