MULTAN: The country’s scientists have been asked to produce new varieties of mango, maintaining the local taste to attract the foreign buyers and boost the country’s economy.
Punjab Special Secretary Agriculture Gulzar Hussain Shah, during his visit to different sections of Mango Research Institute (MRI), said that the scientists should develop mango varieties having good nutritional value, exotic taste and aroma, good shape & colour, more pulp and smaller stone and a stronger connecting branch so it does not fall due to duststorm.
According to a release issued by Punjab Agriculture Department, Gulzar said that the varieties having exotic taste, better shelf life & quality and good nutritional value can penetrate lucrative foreign markets like Japan, USA and European Union.
MRI Director Mushtaq Ahmad Alvi disclosed that two new mango varieties including ‘Azeemo’ and ‘Sindhri Late’ were being introduced, which he added matched international standards and possessed good export potential. More varieties including ‘Hassaan’, ‘’Rohan’, and ‘Aalishan’ were undergoing propagation process, he added.
Alvi said that 91-tonne mango was exported last year which was around five per cent of the national production. Mango export volume in the on-going year so far was 71 tonne, he added.
