Written by: Qamar Zaman, Consul General, Sydney, Australia
The Riverina valley in New South Wales is often referred to as the “food bowl of Australia.” It is renowned for its production of key commodities such as wheat, canola, and fruits like oranges, cherries, and strawberries. The oranges from this region are particularly notable for their three distinctive qualities: juice content, size, and sweetness, in addition to being seedless.
The Riverina is Australia’s largest citrus-growing region, with approximately 8,510 hectares dedicated to citrus cultivation, accounting for 30% of the country’s total citrus production. Key towns in the Riverina region include Griffith, Leeton, and Hillston. The region’s extensive processing units, silos, logistics and storage facilities accord it a unique importance in ensuring Australia’s food security. These towns are well connected to the rest of the country by rail and road, with food silos and storage stations conveniently located near railway lines, ensuring efficient mobility of goods.
Pakistan can learn valuable lessons from this region, as it faces high levels of grain and fruit wastage. The declining productivity of citrus in Pakistan, especially, highlights the need for emulating successful agricultural models like those seen in Griffith. Griffith is known for producing oranges year-round, with the summer variety called Valencia and the winter variety known as Navel.
The Valencia variety, originally bred in Southern California and named after the Spanish city of Valencia, is renowned for its sweetness and juiciness. Its thin skin makes it perfect for juicing, and it has the added advantage of being able to stay on the tree for up to six months, increasing its sweetness and extending the harvesting period into summer. On the other hand, Navel oranges, available from June to October (Australian winter months) are sweet, juicy, seedless, and easy to peel, making them a popular choice for snacks or lunchbox treats.
In addition to Riverina, Murray Valley, located along the Murray River in northwest Victoria; and Mildura and Swan Hill Riverland, located along the Murray River in the northwest of South Australia are prominent areas for oranges and these three regions have a total orange production area of 16,131 hectares, representing 90% of the national area. However, the Riverina area is by far the largest producer of oranges. The total production of the oranges in Australia was estimated at 530,00 metric tons in 2023 by the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA FAS). Out of these 200,000 metric tons were exported to overseas markets, making Australia 7th largest exporter of oranges in the international market in the year 2023.
Australia exports fresh oranges to more than 35 nations, with most of the largest export destinations in Asia. The major traditional export destinations for Australian oranges over recent years have been Japan, China, and Hong Kong. However, South Korea became a significant destination in 2022–23. These four nations typically account for around 60% of overall exports. These destinations are high-end markets where the regulations in the fruits and vegetables sectors are quite stringent. Pakistan has been trying to enter these markets and has achieved limited access to mangoes and oranges in recent years. All these countries maintain high standards of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) and allow market entry after signing required protocols, which are a result of the detailed surveys conducted by agriculture experts.
With the passage of time, the production of oranges is decreasing in Pakistan and this is directly affecting the exports, which have declined significantly over the last few years. One of the major reasons for falling exports is a decline in the production of Kinnows, caused by the decreasing capability of our plants. Major reasons cited are the shorter shelf life of Kinnow, lack of resistance to diseases, low-quality yield, seeds in the fruit, and dull shell color, coupled with bumper citrus crops in regional/competitor countries. These all reasons are directly related to plants and varieties being used in Pakistan.
Mr Aslam Kahloon is a Pakistani from Sangla Hill and has been associated with fruit farming in Griffith for the past three decades. Oranges produced at his farm are exported to Japan and South Korea, while grapes are exported to Japan, Hong Kong, China, and other countries. He is also a leading cherry grower of the area having one of the finest farms of cherries. People like him can play an important role in helping Pakistani citrus growers revitalize the plants and varieties in Pakistan through an exchange of knowledge and expertise.
There is a need to replace the existing Kinnow plants with newer varieties and collaboration between Sargodha and Griffith can play a magical role in revitalizing the entire orange(mandarin) sector of Pakistan. This can be achieved by enhancing collaboration between the farmers of both areas through the exchange of knowledge and expertise. Agriculture Departments of both countries and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) can help in bringing the growers and processors of both countries together.
View Comments
Who is going to initiate bringing together the growers of Pakistan and Australia? How the Pakistani growers can learn about latest trends and happenings in citrus?