Multan: Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research (NFS&R) Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan has inaugurated the locally manufactured hot water treatment plant for mango processing in Multan.
Talking to Customs today he said that after the cancellation of two mango consignments from Europe, government is taking precautionary measures and will not allow any mango grower to export mango without hot water treatment.
He said that government will prefer to shrink mango export rather than allow uncertified fruit to EU which could induce a ban. He said United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) was helping to enhance mango export and at the same time trying to reduce fruit fly infestation in partnership with MNFS&R for introducing small-scale mango HWTP.
Moreover he said “We are planning to distribute 10 more such plants to different groups of mango growers which will help them to get rid of fruit fly infestation and other diseases”.
“Mango season in Sindh has almost finished and now mangoes from Punjab were ready for export and local consumption. The plant was made locally with total cost of Rs150, 000 by the scientists of mango research center” he added.
He said that ban on Indian mangoes in Europe after the discovery of infested fly in the consignment serves as yellow card for our mango growers to take precautionary measures.
He said that there have been many treatment methods in the world for mangoes treatment including hot vapor treatment, irradiation and hot water treatment but in Multan we were using locally manufactured hot water treatment plant.
Earlier, Minister was briefed with technical specification of locally manufactured hot water treatment plant which has the hot water capacity of 830 liters with 150 kg mango capacity.
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