F.P. Report
KARACHI: PHDEC conducted a webinar on the topic of “Harvest and Post-Harvest Management of Citrus Fruits.”. The aim of the webinar was to bring the maximum of the stakeholders on board to discuss harvesting, post-harvest handling of citrus to minimize the post-harvest losses, and availability of premium quality citrus in domestic and international high-end-market. Target audiences of the webinar were processors, progressive growers, R&D and private companies.
Pakistan is 15th largest citrus fruit producing country with 2.4 MMT annual production and Pakistan has 4 Lac Acre of citrus cultivated area which leaves room for value-added products of citrus. Pakistan has a quite low number of citrus recipes and there is a need for introducing more value-added products for household and other industries.
Zulqarnain Zaka, Assistant Manager (Agri-products) welcomed all the participants and informed the participants about the purpose of webinar. Mr. Zaka added that PHDEC has been emphasizing now on product development under its mandate. He also gave a short presentation about the vision, mission, mandate and objectives of PHDEC.
Khawar Nadeem, Manager Agri-Products PHDEC, extended a warm welcome to the participants, providing valuable context on PHDEC’s instrumental role in the horticulture sector and its expansive mandate. Mr. Nadeem emphasized that PHDEC’s commitment remains steadfast in supporting initiatives that bolster the prosperity and well-being of horticulture cultivators and farmers.
Dr. Muhammad Azher Nawaz, Associate Professor, Department of Horticulture Sciences, Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Shared the current area and production of Citrus in Pakistan and last 10 year’s growth trend. He explained the reasons of low production in Pakistan and impact of malpractices and lack of knowledge of recommended production technology of citrus on quality, yield and post-harvest losses.
He also trained the growers on harvesting, safe handling, packing and packaging of citrus. He also explained the causes of Post-Harvest losses, lack of skilled labors, Immature/ premature/over mature harvest, poor sorting and grading practices/poor temperature and relative humidity in storage/Improper packing and washing. He recommended that citrus growers should adopt modern techniques for harvesting post-harvesting and government should provide facilities of packing materials/refrigerated trucks for transportation and access to market to minimize post-harvest losses. Citrus crop is one of main sources of income for the people of rural areas so, the production of this crop may be converted into an industry.
Arrangement of field days, seminars, lectures on pest management and demonstration of improved production technologies will improve overall condition of citrus crop of Pakistan.
He explained about the post-harvest losses of citrus at different stage from harvesting to packing and transportation. He briefed about the techniques to minimize post-harvest losses. He also explained the method of harvesting and time of harvesting of citrus, and modern techniques of sorting/grading and packaging of citrus.
Athar Hussain Khokhar, the CEO of PHDEC, thanked all the participants for attending the webinar and assured the audiences that PHDEC will keep organizing such kind of activities virtually and on ground for the development of Horticulture industry of Pakistan. He informed to the participants about PHDEC’s upcoming activities besides capacity building workshops, webinars. He welcomed the stakeholders to contact PHDEC in case if anybody needs a support or assistance. He extended PHDEC full support to the stakeholders in any product and export related matters.
A large number of participants from growers, processors, exporters, R&D and academia participated in the webinar and appreciated the PHDEC’s initiative of conducting the webinar on an important topic of Harvest and Post-Management of Citrus Fruits.
