Australian marketing methods to boost mango export, help in finding new buyers

The adoption of Australian marketing methods and techniques may not only boost exports of Pakistani mangoes manifold but would also help in finding new markets for the Pakistani fruit. Since the mango season has started, a six-day mango market research training, under Australian-Pakistan Agriculture Sector Linkage Program (ASLP), concluded on Saturday.
The training, held at University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (UAF), was conducted by Pakistan Horticulture Development & Export Company (PHDEC) in collaboration with the Institute of Business Management Sciences (IBMS), UAF, under mango chain improvement project of Australia-Pakistan ASLP.
Dr Tim Sun, Project Research Officer from Australia, led the program at UAF, which was aimed at developing participant's skills and ability in conducting mango market research. Effective marketing of Pakistani mango involves idealising of right markets and understanding consumers' behaviour in those markets. The training was designed to help the participants to understand both qualitative and quantitative marketing research methods as well as their pros and cons, and how these two complement each other.
The Program also helped the participants to understand how the firms can use market research data for developing their marketing strategies as well as directing their post-harvest management practices.
It is expected that those in the trade through this program could conduct both domestic and international market research so that Pakistani mango industry could become more competitive in the international arena. The participants will serve as trainers to train others.
A total of 19 male and four female participants from academia of Sindh Agriculture University and University of Agriculture, Faisalabad; government officials and agriculture marketing department of Sindh and Punjab provinces; and officials from PHDEC were trained. Sohail Ayyaz, Project Development Officer, ASLP mango value chain improvement project assisted the organisers to conduct the program. At the closing ceremony, certificates were presented by Dr Arshad Hashmi, Director, Supplr Chain, PHDEC, while Dr Sun was awarded a shield by Dr Khalid Mustafa, Director, IBMS of UAF.