Increase in mango production: agriculture extension wing lacks policy

Agriculture Extension Wing has no policy regarding the enhancement of Mango production; well-informed sources of inside the department have disclosed this to Business Recorder here on Thursday. Agriculture Extension Wing is the government body, which works under the Sindh Agriculture department.
Its work is to expand the agriculture capacity of the province, to conduct research on different crops in order to broaden the productions, to make more awareness to growers and introduce new technologies to them. Unfortunately the wing has not done special work in this regard, sources said. The concern officials of Agriculture extension wing have not any rough idea that what would be the production of Mango in this season, whether it would be more than production of 2010 or less than it, sources said. They have not taken serious efforts towards the enhancement of production of mango and it is feared that the mango production of 2011 would be reduced in comparison with the year 2010, sources further said.
According to Agriculture's official report available to Business Recorder, in 2009, mango had been cultivated on 59503 hectares land in various districts of province and harvested 378977 metric tons. While in 2010, the land of production had been reduced in comparison with the year 2009 and mango had been cultivated on 59215 hectares with production of 381269 metric ton, which was higher than 2009 production.
Khairpur Mir's, Naushehroferoze, Benazirbabad (Nawabshah), Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Umarkot, Matiyari, Tandoallahyar Badin districts are very rich in mango production. According to district wise details, in 2009, mango had been cultivated on 4212 hectares land of Khairpur Mir's and production was 27074 metric ton, 268 hectares of Ghotki and production was 1987 metric ton, 177 hectares of Sukkur and production was 1312 metric ton, 3882 hectares of Naushehroferoze and production was 27627 metric ton, 3034 hectares of Benazirbabad (Nawabshah) and production was 21592 metric ton, 158 hectares of Shikarpur and production was 984 metric ton, 209 hectares of Larkana and production was 1281 metric ton, 7647 hectares of Sanghar and production was 58201 metric ton, 168 hectares of Tharparkar and production was 863 metric ton, 10656 hectares of Mirpurkhas and production was 53717 metric ton, 4055 hectares of Umarkot and production was 21243 metric ton, 59 hectares of Dadu and production was 391 metric ton, 223 hectares of Jamshoro and production was 1477 metric ton, 8022 hectares of Hyderabad and production was 61055 metric ton, 4247 hectares of Matiyari and production was 31064 metric ton, 9843 hectares of Tandoallahyar and production was 53511 metric ton, 749 hectares of Tando Mohammad Khan and production was 5182 metric ton, 1450 hectares of Badin and production was 7882 metric ton, 219 hectares of Thatta and production was 1234 metric ton and 233 hectares of Karachi with production of 1234 metric ton.
Similarly, in 2010, mango had been cultivated on 4205 hectares land of Khairpur Mir's and production was 27682 metric ton, 262 hectares of Ghotki and production was 1916 metric ton, 183 hectares of Sukkur and production was 1357 metric ton, 2603 hectares of Naushehroferoze and production was 18782 metric ton, 3050 hectares of Benazirbabad (Nawabshah) and production was 21917 metric ton, 139 hectares of Shikarpur and production was 866 metric ton, 169 hectares of Larkana and production was 1069 metric ton, 7948 hectares of Sanghar and production was 61278 metric ton, 160 hectares of Tharparkar and production was 791 metric ton, 10528 hectares of Mirpurkhas and production was 55986 metric ton, 4067 hectares of Umarkot and production was 20904 metric ton, 59 hectares of Dadu and production was 379 metric ton, 223 hectares of Jamshoro and production was 1521 metric ton, 8826 hectares of Hyderabad and production was 66104 metric ton, 4208 hectares of Matiyari and production was 30571 metric ton, 9940 hectares of Tandoallahyar and production was 54235 metric ton, 749 hectares of Tando Mohammad Khan and production was 5034 metric ton, 1440 hectares of Badin and production was 8284 metric ton, 219 hectares of Thatta and production was 1206 metric ton and 237 hectares of Karachi with production of 1387 metric ton.
Minister for Agriculture Ali Nawaz Shah was not available at his office and he has not attended the mobile number despite several attempts. Secretary Agriculture Agha Jan Akhter could not be approached as he had been out of the country while Director General Agriculture extension wing Abdul Waheed Shaikh avoided commenting on the issue and said that he is on leave.