The initial planning meeting for this project was held in May 2007 in Islamabad, Pakistan. Implementation of project work was delayed due to the cancellation of the November 07 visit and delay of the March 08 visit to Pakistan, resulting fro the unstable security situation in Pakistan.

In May 2007, climatic data for citrus production areas was obtained from Pakistan. On the basis of this climatic data, heat unit maps were produced for the major citrus growing areas. The aim of this heat unit mapping was to identify suitable Australian and international germplasm (superior cultivars and rootstock material) with potential suitability for the major Pakistan citrus growing areas. Unfortunately the heat unit mapping exercise highlighted that there were no Australian matching citrus growing regions for either the major Pakistan citrus growing areas of North West Frontier Provence (NWFP) or Punjab. Therefore, the decision to select the citrus cultivars was made after consulting with the variety expert at Dareton. Budwood for 23 cultivars and 8 rootstocks were sent to the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF), Pakistan in September 2007. The budwood was budded by the collaborative staff of UAF. The germplasm and rootstock are growing successfully at UAF Pakistan and this was confirmed during a May 08 visit to Pakistan. The development of variety fact sheets which provide details of the cultural characteristics and production of the cultivars and rootstocks established in Pakistan is underway.

Another component of the project, modification of flood irrigation system to under-tree furrow irrigation system is underway. Under-tree furrow irrigation trials have commenced on grower's properties in Punjab and NWFP provinces. Work is also underway to measure the amount of water used by furrow verses flood irrigation system before a recommendation can be made. Sites have also been selected to trial pressurised irrigation (drip/sprinkler) systems at Orange Research Institute (ORI), Sargodha (Punjab) and the Agriculture Research Institute, Tarnab (NWFP). Installation of the irrigation system at ORI is nearly complete.

The extension components of this project have also commenced. For extension purposes, a reworking DVD on plant propagation and nursery production techniques has been produced by NSW DPI. This was launched in Pakistan in May 2008. Growers and nurserymen took a keen interest in the "Reworking" DVD. As a part of the capacity building for this project, field sessions were also held for soil water use and tensiometer training in Pakistan for the extension officers of Sargodha and Toba Tek Singh; the two citrus growing regions for "Kinnow" mandarins.

Four staff member from arrange of collaborative institutes of Pakistan visited Australian in November 2008 to undertake training in a range of production and experimental techniques. The group was trained in plant propagation and nursery techniques, irrigations systems, tree pruning and thinning, basic nutrition and experimental design and analysis. This project has established linkages with the Federal Seed Certification & Registration Department, the Federal body responsible for plant, seed and nursery certification. Members of their department will travel to Australia for the nursery training in the near future. Linkages with the Punjab Fruit and Vegetable Development Project (a Punjab Government-funded extensions, training and capacity building project) have also been established. These linkages will be used to develop joint extension and training programs to further leverage the impact from the ASLP.

Most of the project activities started to happen since the Australian citrus team visit to Pakistan in May 08. The Australian team could not visit Pakistan since May 08 due to serious security issues in Pakistan. The team either delayed or cancelled the trips. This cancellation and delay was due to the security situation in Pakistan and due to the advice posted on the DFAT Australian Website. Whenever the team got ready to visit to Pakistan, some unfortunate event happened in Pakistan and team has to cancel the trip. At two occasions the team have the airline tickets purchased but could not travel. The inability to travel to Pakistan has weakened the project.

A new strategy is being adapted to improve the delivery of the outputs and an annual project plan has been prepared to carry on the activities for the rest of the growing season in the presence or/and absence of the Australian team members.

At present the data collection program for the established trials went ahead accordingly. There were some delays in the irrigation system installations from DADEX and also due to the heavy rainfall events. The irrigation systems have now been fixed at TARNAB and nearly fixed in CRI, Sargodha. Irrigation and nutrition program for the drip and sprinkler system in Pakistan has been prepared by Australian citrus team at Dareton. The fact sheets about the new varieties and rootstock are now ready to be handed in to Dr Hafeez-ur-Rahman in June 09. The phenology calendar will be completed after the completion of the current growing season.

Four staff member from various collaborative institutes of Pakistan visited Australian in Feb/March 09 to get trained in various components of the project. The group was trained in plant propagation and nursery techniques, irrigations systems, tree pruning and thinning, basic nutrition and other research techniques. Stronger linkages were also established between growers of Australia and the trainees from Pakistan. The project has established linkages with Federal Seed Certification & Registration Department. Linkages with Fruit and Vegetable Development Project have also been established and 2 staff members from FVDP were recently trained in Australia.

The project also has a very strong extension component. Therefore, a range of workshops and fields days were organised and held in Sargodha regions and also in TARNAB Peshawar. The training was given to extension officers and local growers in pruning and training, nutrition and irrigation techniques. Fruit and vegetable development project staff played an important role to make the field day a success. The linkages between FVDP and the project are fairly stronger.

The project activities started to happen when the Australian citrus team visit to Pakistan in May 08. The Australian team could not visit Pakistan since May 08 due to serious security concerns in Pakistan. The team either delayed or cancelled the trips. This cancellation and delay was due to the security situation in Pakistan and due to the advice posted on the DFAT Australian Website. Whenever the team got ready to visit to Pakistan, some unfortunate event happened in Pakistan and team had to cancel the trip. On four occasions the team had the airline tickets purchased but could not travel. The inability to travel to Pakistan weakened the project.

A new strategy was adapted to improve the delivery of the outputs and an annual project plan for 2009 was prepared to carry on the activities in the presence or absence of the Australian team members in Pakistan. Since then significant progress has been made towards completion the project.

At present the data collection program for the established trials went ahead accordingly. There were some delays in the irrigation system installations from DADEX and also due to the heavy rainfall events. The irrigation systems at TARNAB in not fully operational due the electricity load shedding (availability of electricity) and the availability of water which is not under control of collaborators. The irrigation system in CRI, Sargodha has been fixed and is operational. However, they still can not irrigate the orchard properly due to shortage of water (In Pakistan the water is available on a weekly basis). Load shedding is a general problem and electricity is not available for continuous 8 hours to irrigate the orchard specially during summer months. However, in Phase II, this problem will be resolved by installing diesel pumps. Irrigation and nutrition program for the drip and sprinkler system in Pakistan has been prepared by Australian citrus team at Dareton. A second shipment of budwood was due to be taken to Pakistan in March 2010, however, due to the cancellation of project trip to Pakistan the next shipment will be sent in August 2010 along with a range of rootstock varieties (seeds). The phenology calendar for "Kinnow" and "Blood" orange is completed and will be handed to Pakistan collaborators in August 2010.

The installation of screenhouse is essential to preserve the germplasm and tree multiplication in a clean environment. The installation of screenhouse was not part of the current project due to lack of funds for the nursery component. However, the screenhouse design has been completed for CRI and ARI, TARNAB and will be under construction under construction in Phase II of this project.

Two staff member Dr Iftikhar Ahmad and Dr Haffez-ur-Rahman visited Australia in November 2009 to present the project progress to conclude the current project. The visiting staff also had an opportunity to discuss the proposed activities for the next project (extension of the current project). The project has established linkages with Federal Seed Certification & Registration Department during a recent visit of the project leader to Pakistan in late May 2010. Linkages with Fruit and Vegetable Development Project have also been established and 2 staff members from FVDP were trained in Australia in Nov 2009. Fruit and vegetable development project staff played an important role to make the field day a success. The linkages between FVDP and the project are fairly stronger for future project work.

The project also has a very strong extension component. Therefore, a range of workshops and fields days were organised and held in Sargodha and other citrus producing regions. Planned workshops in TARNAB Peshawar were cancelled due to the security reasons. Once the situation is improved those workshops will be continued despite the completion of this project.