According to agricultural experts, the strawberry is emerging as a cash fruit crop in the Charsadda and Mardan districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and farmers are getting higher return as compared to other Rabi crops.
These views were expressed in a farmers’ training programme organised under the auspices of Technology Transfer Institute (TTI), a representative institute of Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) in collaboration with Agricultural Research Institute, Tarnab-Peshawar.
The experts said that the profit earned by the farmers from the strawberry is about four times higher than sugarcane and about nine times higher than the wheat crop. Nisar Ali Shah, Director TTI (PARC) Tarnab, briefed the farmers about the importance of growing strawberries in the economy of the country.
Mr. Shah said that the strawberry was a newly introduced crop in Pakistan with a very low average yield per acre as compared to other producing countries. He said the average yield of strawberry is 9,000 kilos per acre, while the world average yield ranged from 15,000 to 25,000 kgs per acre.
Powerful sugar tycoons are guilty of cartelisation as proved by the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) report which shows evidence of collusive behaviour of this highly politicised industry. It thus calls for imposition of a maximum penalty of Rs 75 million against violators of law.
