PARC - Publised Articles

Published in "The News" Rawalpindi / Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi on May 30, 2005

Highland Balochistan is located in the south-western region, near the southern border of Afghanistan. There is considerable climatic variation. The northern-western high mountain ranges are extremely cold in winter with temperatures below freezing point during the night from December through February but maximum air temperatures can reach 40oC during June to September. Average annual rainfall is 200-300 mm and a variable proportion of this total falls as a mixture of snow and rain in the mid winter period or as intense showers in summer. The diversity of climates in the province is a blessing for growing various fruit crops ranging from temperate to sub-tropical and tropical.

Balochistan is famous for the production of quality deciduous fruits like almond, apple, apricot, cherry, grapes, peach, plum, and pomegranate due to climatic suitability. After apple, grape is the second major fruit in Balochistan. Within fruits it contributed 15.22 per cent and 10.17 per cent both in area and production respectively in Balochistan while grapes contribute 98.42 per cent and 95.37 per cent in overall area and production of Pakistan. A number of varieties of grapes are grown in highland areas of the province. The leading grape varieties grown are: Haita, Kishmishi, Shundokhani, Sahibi and Shekhali. The main grape producing areas are Quetta, Pishin, Killa Abdullah, Mastung, Kalat, Loralai and Zhob districts. But here we focus on three famous grape producing areas i.e. Pishin, Killa Abdullah and Mastung. These districts contributed more than 70 per cent to area and production of grapes in the province. Grape production during the last decade increased from 31,010 to 73,787 tonnes with an increase of 138 per cent mainly due to rural electrification, which resulted in extensive installation of tubewells. If more attention is focused on mechanisation, labour requirements and good crop management, the production of vine can be further increase by another 25 per cent. Higher rate of return refers to those sites with electricity available for pumping irrigation water. The development of agriculture sector in highland Balochistan depends on the availability of groundwater, which is indiscriminately pumped out and results in the sharp decline of underground water table. Grape is a short duration crop and having great quantity of carbohydrates, it is a best source of energy. The fruit is consumed both fresh and in a dried form called Monaka and Kishmish.

A team of agriculture economists from Technology Transferred Institute, Social Sciences Division (PARC), Quetta conducted this research. Districts Pishin and Killa Abdullah lie in the north while district Mastung is located in south of Quetta. Eighty-five per cent of the farmers practice mixed orchards while the remaining 15 per cent plant mono crop orchards. Grape orchards are inter-cropped with apples, apricot, peaches, pomegranate, plum, etc. Haita, Kishmishi and Shundokhani are the most popular commercial grape varieties grown in the area. These varieties were grown on 36, 32 and 24 per cent of the total area, while Sahibi and Shekhali varieties are grown on 2 to 4 per cent of area. Haita variety was high yielding followed by Kishmish and Shundokhani. Shundokhani variety is high priced as compared with other varieties. The average yield of all varieties taken together is calculated as 6239, 4975, 4584, 4745, 4775, and 3811 kg per acre of Haita, Kashmish, Shundokhani, Sahibi and Shekhali respectively. In district Killa Abdullah the yield per acre was 5,315 kg, which was higher than that of Pishin 4,601 kg and Mastung 4,100 kg. Forty-five per cent farmers obtained grape cuttings for new orchards from their neighbour farmers or from own vineyard. While 15 per cent farmers purchased the cuttings from private nurseries. Planting new vineyard the farmers mostly used cutting of grapes locally called "Lashta" which they got free of cost from neighbour farmers. Some farmers purchased rooted cuttings from private nurseries at Rs10-15 cutting of one to two years of age and called "Dogana" in local language. Good crop management can increase the profits and decrease the costs involved in grape production. However, there is a need for improvement in overall management, reduction of costs in various areas, and better utilisation of material resources in order to raise per capita consumption of grapes, which is 3.5 time lower than in others areas. The costs involved are listed as below:

Establishment of vineyard is a long-term investment. Here the farmers put their resources not for an early return as in other annual crops but after three to four years orchards bear fruit and give returns. The first year establishment costs included land preparation; marking trenches for vine cultivation, pits, grape cuttings and their planting. These calculations are based on an average for all three locations of Pishin, Killa Abdullah and Mastung.

The variable costs of grapes comprised of vineyard management practices, which included support walling of grapes ridges to support grapes plants, watering, fertiliser and farm yard manure application. Hoeing, weeding, chemical sprays for controlling pests and diseases, pruning; layering and protection of ripened grapes from birds were also involved in variable costs, which differ from area to area and farmer to farmer. The highest per acre costs on vineyard management on year basis were incurred by farmers of district Killa Abdullah which were Rs18,841, followed by Pishin Rs14,156 and Mastung Rs13,851. Average cost for all three locations was Rs15496 per acre. Increase in prices of agro-chemicals and other variable costs had significant effects on production costs and consequently the profitability of grape production. The overall cost benefit ratio of mature vines was 1:1.6 while it was 1:1.48 for district Killa Abdullah, 1:1.51 for district Pishin and 1:1.8 in district Mustang. The district-wise comparison of the results showed that grapes gave highest net return/profit in district Mastung followed by Killa Abdullah and Pishin. The highest per acre production cost was incurred in Killa Abdullah i.e. Rs64,580 followed by Pishin Rs52,979 and Mastung Rs36,388. Returns from grape are still reasonably attractive, if imports of grape from Afghanistan are not allowed in future the returns of grape will be further higher and attractive for the farmers.

Ninety percent of the farmers sell their orchards to pre-harvest contractors while the remaining 10 per cent farmers market through direct sale of the produce because direct sales benefit the producers more than contract sales. Marketing channel is a process of selling of different commodities at different stages, which involve a number of intermediaries like contractor, commission agents, wholesalers and retailers. Long chain of intermediaries makes marketing operation less efficient and more costly, as each intermediary in the chain receives his share. Two most common distribution channels observed are: (i) Producer -Pre-harvest Contractor -Commission agent-Wholesaler-Retailer-Consumer and (ii). Producer-Commission agent-Wholesaler-Retailer-Consumer.

Lack of planning poses a serious threat to the sustainability of agriculture sector in highlands Balochistan. The most precious resources like water are being exhausted indiscriminately and the underground water resources are under extreme pressure of extinction. So there is an urgent need to address these issues by construction of check/delay action dams in suitable areas of the province on priority. Development and dissemination of new technologies like trickle irrigation system, high yielding, and drought and disease resistance varieties of fruits are urgently needed.