To compete in the high margin markets, one needs high quality products at a competitive price. One way to do it is to reduce the cost of transportation which can be cut to one-third of the air freight cost to Europe by increasing shelf life of mangoes by a factor of 200 per cent.

Europe is a big market for fresh fruits and vegetables and retailers pay high prices for the produce also. The market for fruits and vegetables is expected to grow.

Pakistan’s mangoes, kinnoos and Basmati rice are unique and have no substitute. With an agricultural base, the country has the following advantages: strategic /central location in Asia for trading; low labour cost; hard working and sturdy labour in rural areas; fertile lands; abundant water availability; and low land rentals for corporate farming.

In Europe, the major markets for mangoes are United Kingdom and France, though interest is growing in other markets. e.g. Germany consumes 15 per cent of mangoes imported in the EU. Since 2002, imports of mangoes by EU countries have grown by 50 per cent to 199,000 tons or 228 million euros in 2006. Mangoes cannot be grown in Europe. The major exporters are India, Mexico, Brazil and Peru.

Pakistani mango has the best taste and has a substantial export potential in the European market which has not been realised so far. This is despite the fact that the supply of mangoes to EU markets is tight during Pakistan’s mango season.

Shelf life: Our mangoes have a very short shelf life which is measured in days rather than in weeks. As mangoes are highly perishable, these are exported by air.

This adds substantial freight costs to the price of the produce and makes it uncompetitive in the export markets.

The problem can be solved, especially considering the fact that 95 per cent of Peru and Brazil’s exports are sea-borne and it takes 20 plus days for a ship to reach Europe. The direct service from Karachi to Europe also takes the same number of days. But we do not send mangoes by sea.

Stakeholders: Three different stakeholders have decided to undertake an initiative to increase the shelf life of mangoes and thus open up new markets for local variety. They are the Agribusiness Support Fund (ASF), the growers of Rahim Yar Khan and METRO.

ASF has the money and the mandate to financially support applied research and development projects, which will benefit the agribusiness. Our financial support will reduce the cost impact on Metro.

Project: A research project is planned, wherein specially treated / processed mangoes will be exported to Germany by sea, using controlled atmosphere containers as well as reefer containers. The process is expected to increase the shelf life of the fruit up to 25-30 days.

The project is designed to train the farmers in activities like picking, sorting, de-saping, lime washing, etc. at the farm; transporting treated mangoes through reefer trucks immediately to processing facility house; sorting and grading the fruits again and undertaking hot water treatment plus waxing and other treatments at the processing facility.

These processes will be followed packing the fruit in a special packaging especially designed for sea shipments and transfer to pre-cooling chambers and from there to controlled atmosphere containers. Finally, the containers will be transported to the port for shipment.

The project is designed to significantly reduce the transportation costs of mangoes (via sea shipment) to European market.

The writers work for ASF. info@asf.org.pk