Pakistan

Achievements

Key indicators and performance for 2009-2010

Indicator: Productivity gains achieved in horticultural and dairy enterprises, leading to higher farmer incomes in selected areas

Performance: A sample of mango growers in Pakistan reported increases in yield of greater than 25% and in total returns of 67–97% (off production areas of 30–89 ha) over the previous seasons, as a result of the uptake of Australia– Pakistan Agriculture Sector Linkages Program (ASLP) best practice technologies (pruning after harvest and integrated crop management). Implementation (for dairy) of an extension program focused on improving feed and water provision in central and western Punjab has resulted in modest gains in productivity. A new dairy research component of ASLP is being designed to increase the extent and scale of these outcomes.

Indicator: Higher export volumes and revenues achieved through improved quality of mangoes

Performance: A survey of Pakistan wholesalers and exporters has shown that, as a result of improved quality (resulting from ASLP interventions), export volume has increased by 30–35% and fruit price has appreciated by 20–30%. Sea shipments in 2009 compared with 2007 showed a marked improvement in quality.

The industry is now receiving signals from markets (wholesalers and exporters) that these standards are what they want to achieve and that such improvements have a positive effect on price received.

Indicator: New generation resource-conserving technologies and conservation tillage machinery increasingly adopted through the support of Pakistan Government programs

Performance: In 2007 the Pakistan Government implemented the National Project to Stimulate Adoption of Permanent Raised Beds. This US$7 million, 5-year program is providing farmers with subsidies to acquire machinery for zero tillage, bed forming and planting. The establishment of this program is a direct outcome of ACIAR’s work on permanent raised beds in North West Frontier province.

Achievements from the 2009-10 Annual Report

Much of Pakistan’s fruit and vegetable production, including mangoes, is not fully utilised due to poor harvesting, handling and other postharvest practices. A project is addressing key constraints limiting the efficiency, effectiveness and competitiveness of supply chainsfor Pakistan mangoes. A series of experiments has addressed the issues of optimum storage, best ripening procedures, assessment of harvest maturity and identification of postharvest diseases for the two main commercial mango cultivars, Chaunsa and Sindhri.

The project team has initiated the search for new markets for Pakistan mangoes. China was identified as a potential market in 2007. After 40 kg of Pakistan mangoes were carried into Beijing and Guangzhou in September 2008 to test the market response, four supervised trial shipments were undertaken in 2009, each of 1,000 kg of Chaunsa mangoes. The fruit quality was acceptable and sold at premium prices. These experiences and the linkages developed through this activity encouraged chain members to plan for future seasons. In 2010 they agreed on shipments throughout the season, starting with the Sindhri variety in June.

Pakistan has set an annual export target for citrus of 500,000 t within the next 5 years, and A$300 million in export earnings by 2013, but some key constraints need to be addressed to achieve these ambitious targets. ACIAR support is helping to improve mandarin and orange productivity in Pakistan and Australia through improved nursery production practices and production; demonstration of best practice orchard management; and enhanced research, extension and production capacity of Pakistan citrus institutions and industry. Citrus orchard practice has moved from flood irrigation to furrow irrigation, with great savings in water. Productivity will also increase as producers change from working by the calendar to working according to phenology (growth stage) of the crop.

Milk supply in Pakistan has increased by more than 5% per year over the past 15 years, but demand is anticipated to more than treble by 2020. An effective extension service can contribute to reform of the industry, but at present there are too few extension officers and they typically receive inadequate training. Farmers struggle to boost on-farm efficiency because the relevant information is neither disseminated nor adopted in the farming community. An ASLP project is designed to demonstrate the economic and social benefits of improved extension services to smallholder dairy farmers. Field extension workers and farmers have been introduced to the key fundamentals that contribute to high productivity from cattle and buffalo. They also learn the principles of feed and water management, cow health, calf rearing and reproductive management through the development of effective inter-personal relationships. The changes in productivity, carefully measured with bucket and scales, have related directly to changes in farm income.

The Punjab Irrigation and Drainage Authority in Pakistan operates and maintains one of the largest irrigation canal systems in the world. However, the system now requires major rehabilitation and improvement to meet present-day demands. Recent analysis shows that the inequity of water distribution between the beginning and end of a system is closely correlated to decreasing yields and increasing salinity with increasing distance from the canal. An ACIAR project team is developing tools capable of analysing hydrological and economic water management trade-off scenarios. This project is developing and using hydrologic–economic modelling tools for the first time in the history of canal and groundwater management in Pakistan. These tools are capable of scenario analysis of water distribution as a function of crop–groundwater–soil mix at farm and ‘distributary’ and ‘minor’ canal levels. The project is also coupling remote-sensing tools and hydrological data with socioeconomic data as a means of developing surface water and groundwater supply-and-demand management options at various spatial scales, to enable tailoring the adaptations of different water sectors to climate change.