Our dates orchards are spread over 1.8 million acres of land in Sindh and more than 85 million trees are having production value in Khairpur and Sukkur, they added.
"The projected target of dates exports from Pakistan till June 2010 was 160,000 tonne worth $55.0 million, but due to packaging delays we could not achieve target", Senior member Sindh Agriculture Forum Shakeel Ahmad said.
There is a greater need of an institute that should provide technical assistance and training to growers, traders and exporters in storage, processing and packing to increase export potential, Ahmad added.
He said the institute should also provide technical know-how and training for marketing, quality improvement and crop protection in this regard.
He said according to Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Company, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan is establishing Dates Processing Skill Development Institute at Khairpur.
"But this should be done with the consent of all stakeholders especially the real growers and exporters", Ahmad maintained. The export during the current date season stands at 90,000 tonne worth $34.0 million, while anticipated production was 6.1 million tonne, he added.
The major countries importing both fresh and dried dates from Pakistan are India, USA, UK, Canada, Germany, Denmark, Malaysia and Indonesia.
He said, "India is the largest importer with market share of about 38 percent while France and UK are second and third largest importers with shares of 4 percent and 2.5 percent respectively".
The world date import is about 0.63 million tonne per annum while it is estimated that annually about 6 million tonnes of dates are produced world over, he informed.
Improved farm and proper harvesting with modern processing, Pakistan has been certified by Good Agriculture Practices (GAP).
Around three date processing plants one each in Sindh, Balochistan and North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) are working on modern lines.
Traders are also striving to produce by-products of dates in order to fetch more foreign exchange, he added.
He said buyers from India, China, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan had shown great interest in making deals for dates.
Pakistan is the fourth largest producer of dates but exports are insignificant because processing technology and practices are primitive.
According to FAO, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE, Algeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Oman, Libya, China and Tunisia are the major date producing countries of the world.
Pakistan is one of the main growers of dates. It follows Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and UAE in the list of top date producing countries with 10 percent share of global production. Balochistan is the highest date producing province followed by Sindh, Punjab and NWFP.
The horticulture crops (fruits, vegetables and condiments) alone contribute Rs 116.645 billion, equivalent to $2 billion, which is 26 percent of the total value of all crops and 81.8 percent of the total value of minor crops.
Peak season for date consumption is during the month of Ramazan. Entire Muslim community around the world currently numbering 1.6 billion people is loyal consumer of dates. Consumption is also quite high during Christmas, he said.
Similarly, the fruit enjoys enormous significance on the occasion of Divali and such festivals in other religions. Dates have found their way into sweets, confectionery, and chocolates, baking products, preservatives, salads, sauces and breakfast cereals. Dates also have bulk industrial uses.
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