GHULAM ABBAS
KARACHI (February 04 2010): Trade
Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP)
plans to establish packing and storage
facilities in Sindh and Punjab provinces to
maintain quality of perishable fruits.
According to official sources in TDAP, the
MPHCS would be set up by the Authority in
Benazirabad, formerly Nawabshah, and Multan
to save the exportable products like mango,
kinnow, dates and others from being wasted.
As a substantial proportion of mango, which
has high demand in the world, is wasted due
to lack of adequate storage facilities, the
authority is going to establish the system
in two mango rich cities of the country,
they said. As Common Facility Centres, the
Pack House with cold storage facilities
would not only provide storage to the
millions of rupees worth mango and other
fruits but also improve the country's
agro-food export.
According to sources Export Development Fund
Board has already approved feasibility study
of the project and the facilities are going
to be completed by next year. Under the
important project, they said, the major
scope of processing activities including
harvest handling, de-sapping,
washing/cleaning, hot water treatment,
drying, grading/sorting, packing, and
storage in the cold room, of fruits would be
ensured.
The proposed project would also facilitate
the processing of 5 to 10 tons of fruit per
hour mainly mango for local and export
markets. The centers would facilitate the
processing of other fruits and vegetables
including citrus, apple, guava, tomato,
capsicum and others, they added.
The Mango Pack House and Cold Storage (MPHCS)
project, they said, would also add diversity
to the final product line while keeping the
plant running for relatively greater number
of days during the year. Through the new
project the authority would also impart
training in all post harvest value added
activities like processing, packing and
storage and meeting international sanitary
standards to workers, traders and exporters,
which would lead to drastic increase in
export of these products, they added.
To meet the growing competition in the
international as well as the domestic
markets, they said, such facility was needed
to upgrade the products for survival in the
market.
As the world markets are demanding value
added fruits and vegetables, Pakistani
products need to improve on-farm handling
through establishing a pack house for
picking, de-sapping, grading, ripening,
storage and non-refrigerated transport of
fruits, they added. The installation of pack
houses at farm level would not only add to
the income of growers but also boost the
exports through enabling its entry in the
high quality conscious markets of the world.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2010
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