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January 13, 2014

Agriculture Corner

PRODUCTION STATUS OF MAJOR VEGETABLES IN PAKISTAN, THEIR

PROBLEMS AND SUGGESTIONS

By Khalid Mahmood Khokhar

The total cropped area of the country reported for the year 2010-11, was 19.9
million ha. Out of this 65.8% was under food crops, 24.2% under cash crops, 6.7% under
pulses and 3.3% under edible oilseeds. Vegetables constitute an integral component of the
cropping pattern but the increasing pressure on food and cash crops has limited the area
under vegetables to about 0.62 million ha, which is 3.1% of the total cropped area.
Vegetables fit well in most farming systems due to shorter maturity period.
Vegetable crops are very important due to their higher yield potential, higher
return and high nutritional value and suitability for small land holding farmers.
Vegetables provide proteins, minerals and vitamins required for human nutrition. In
Pakistan, the daily per capita intake is low, being about 100 grams compared to the
recommended consumption of about 285 grams. In view of population increase, land
degradation and water scarcity, there is a need to substantially increase vegetable
production in the years to come and to attain self-sufficiency as well as to increase the
exportable surplus. However, in the past, development efforts in agriculture sector were
primarily focused on production and development of cereal crops; in spite of the fact the
vegetables provide maximum output per unit area.

Vegetables grown in Pakistan

More than 35 kinds of vegetables are grown in numerous eco-systems in Pakistan
from the dry zone to the wet zone, low elevation to high elevation, rain fed to irrigated
and low input to very high input systems such as plastic houses. During summer and
spring season, tomato, chilies, brinjal, potato, cucumber, gourds and okra are abundantly
available. During rainy season, gourds, cucumber, beans, okra and brinjal are common.
The winter season is the most important for growing a wide variety of vegetables
including, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, onion, potato, carrot, radish, turnip,
coriander, fenugreek and peas. Vegetables produced in different zones by using different
production technologies during different seasons are traded across regional markets of
Pakistan in order to meet consumer demand across the country. Varied agro-climatic
conditions prevailing in different provinces of the country also contribute to year round
production of different kinds of vegetables. Thus many vegetables can be grown and seen
in the market during any season.

Area and Production

Total area and production of vegetables including potatoes and condiments,

averaged about 588 thousand ha and 7612.4 thousand tones, respectively during the past
ten years (2002 -12) Table 1. Though subjected to annual variations, overall area and
production of vegetables in Pakistan have shown an increasing trend during the past 10
years. Since 2002-03 to 2011-12, the area under vegetable crops including potato and
condiments has increased from 520.9 to 611.7 thousand hectares and production has
increased from 6454.2 to 8478.8 thousand tonnes.

Table 1. Area of vegetables including potato and condiments in Pakistan (2002-03 to

2011-12)
Year Vegetables Potatoes Condiments Total area
(000, ha) (000, ha) (000, ha) (000, ha)
2002-03 224.6 115.8 180.5 520.9
2003-04 236.6 109.7 181.5 527.8
2004-05 238.7 112.0 192.7 543.4
2005-06 246.3 117.5 229.7 593.5
2006-07 245.5 133.4 196.6 575.5
2007-08 253.8 154.3 235.6 643.7
2008-09 252.9 144.9 222.3 620.1
2009-10 249.7 138.5 216.4 604.6
2010-11 251.7 159.4 227.9 639.0
2011-12 253.6 184.9 173.2 611.7
Average 245.3 137.1 205.6 588.0
(2002-2012)
Source: Fruit, vegetable and condiments statistics of Pakistan.
Table 2. Production of vegetables including potato and condiments in Pakistan (2002-03
to 2011-12)
Year Vegetables Potatoes Condiments Total production
(000, tonnes) (000, tonnes) (000, tonnes) (000, tonnes)
2002-03 2880.3 1946.3 1627.6 6454.2
2003-04 3028.4 1938.1 1643.4 6609.9
2004-05 3048.4 2024.8 1952.2 7025.4
2005-06 3124.8 1567.9 2274.4 6967.1
2006-07 3138.0 2581.6 1988.1 7707.7
2007-08 3136.9 2539.0 2200.0 7875.9
2008-09 3205.5 2941.3 1897.7 8044.5
2009-10 3044.9 3141.4 1951.7 8138.0
2010-11 3112.2 3491.7 2217.7 8821.6
2011-12 3110.6 3392.5 1975.7 8478.8
Average 3083.0 2556.5 1972.9 7612.4
(2002-2012)
Source: Fruit, vegetable and condiments statistics of Pakistan.

Area, production and share of important vegetables in Pakistan

The major vegetable grown in the country are potato, onion, chilies, tomato,
turnip, okra carrot, cauliflower peas and tinda gourd covering 78% of the total area under
vegetables accounting for 81% of the total production (Table 3). The major share in area
and production is of potato which is 30.2% and 40%, respectively followed by onion with
respective share of 21.2% and 21.4%.

Table 3. Area, production and share of important vegetables in Pakistan (2011-12)

Vegetables Area % Share Production % Share

(000, tonnes)
(000, hectares)

Potato 184.9 30.2 3392.5 40.0

 Onion 129.7 21.2 1817.4 21.4

Tomato 57.2 9.4 577.8 6.8

Chilies 24.8 4.0 40.4 0.5

Peas 15.8 2.6 105.0 1.2

Turnip 15.7 2.6 275.7 3.3

Okra 13.9 2.3 102.6 1.2

Cauliflower 13.6 2.2 234.4 2.8

Carrot 13.5 2.2 235.9 2.8

Tinda 9.4 1.5 89.1 1.0

gourd

Others 133.2 21.8 1608.0 19.0

Total 611.7 8478.8

Source: Fruit, vegetable and condiments statistics of Pakistan 2011-12.

Share of provinces

According to the statistical data of the year 2011-12, Punjab claims more than

60% of the total area followed by Sindh (17 %), Baluchistan (13%) and KPK (10 %)

(Table 4). The major share in the production of vegetables including potato and

condiments (onion, chilies, turmeric, garlic and coriander) is of Punjab (67%) followed

by Baluchistan (13%), Sindh (12%) and KPK (8%). Punjab province has comparatively

high shares both in area and production. The contribution of other provinces is significant

in making the vegetables available in the market during lean period due to different

production seasons.

Table 4. Share of provinces in area and production of vegetables

 Province Area % Share Production % Share
(000, tonnes)
(000, ha)
Punjab 367.0 60 5653.5 67
Sindh 105.4 17 1044.8 12
KPK 60.5 10 710.5 8
Baluchistan 78.8 13 1070.0 13
Pakistan 611.7 8478.8
Source: Fruit, vegetable and condiments statistics of Pakistan 2011-12.

Province wise production share of major vegetables

Potatoes have maximum production of 3392.5 thousand tonnes of which more

than 95% comes from Punjab (Table 5). Next to potatoes are onions with total production
of 1817.4 thousand tonnes of which 41% come from Sindh, 29% from Baluchistan and
20% from Punjab. Tomatoes are at third position and Baluchistan is the main producing
area contributing 38%, followed by Sindh, KPK and Punjab with 25%, 23% and 15%
share in total production. The agro-ecological suitability of the southern zone of the
country to the production of chilies has resulted in the raising of 59.4% of total
production from Sindh. Punjab contributes 21.1% and Baluchistan 18.3%, whereas KPK
contributes only 1.2% of the total production. Punjab has the highest share (72%) in
production of turnip followed by KPK with more than 15%. Punjab is the main producing
area of carrot contributing more than 68% in total production followed by Baluchistan
(23%). Out of total production of cauliflower, Punjab contributes more than 68%
followed by Baluchistan (17%). Punjab, KPK and Baluchistan, respectively account for
71%, 13% and more than 11% of the production of peas in the country. Punjab
contributes more than 57% of total production of okra followed by Baluchistan (16%),
KPK (14%) and Sindh with more than (23%). More than 75% production of tinda gourd
comes from Punjab.
Table 5. Province wise production share of major vegetables

Vegetables Punjab Sindh KPK Baluchistan

production production production production
share % share % share % share %

Potato 95.4 0.1 3.5 1.0

Onion 19.9 41.0 10.1 29.0
Chilies 21.1 59.4 1.2 18.3
Tomato 15.0 24.5 22.5 38.0
Turnip 71.5 6.7 15.4 6.4
Okra 57.3 13.3 13.9 15.5
Carrot 68.4 5.8 3.3 22.5
Cauliflower 68.2 7.5 6.9 17.4
Peas 71.2 4.7 12.8 11.3
Tinda 75.2 6.5 13.5 4.8
gourd
Source: Fruit, vegetable and condiments statistics of Pakistan 2011-12.

Yield gap of important vegetables

Crop yield in Pakistan are low and a substantial gap exists between the potential

yields and the yields at the farm level (Table 6). Production can be increased either by

bringing more area under crops or by increasing productivity per hectare. The input use

level and combinations are different across farms and regions resulting in different yields.

Furthermore, there is a wide gap in yields of experimental stations and farmer fields

indicating the suboptimal use of inputs.

Table 6. Production and yield gap of important vegetable crops in Pakistan

Vegetables National Average yield Production Yield gap

average yield at expt. gap (%)
(tonnes/ha) stations* (tonnes/ha)
(tonnes/ha)
Potato 18.4 29 10.6 58
Onion 14.0 30 16.0 114
Chilies 1.6 4 2.4 145
Tomato 10.1 30 19.9 197
Turnip 17.6 25 7.4 42
Okra 7.4 17 9.6 130
Cauliflower 17.2 30 12.8 74
Peas 6.7 10 3.4 50
Carrot 17.5 30 12.5 72
Tinda gourd 9.5 25 15.5 163
Garlic 8.5 12 3.5 41
Radish 16.2 30 13.8 85
Cucumber 14.3 20 5.7 40
Source: Fruit, vegetable and condiments statistics of Pakistan 2011-12
* Annual reports of experimental stations
Specific problems of important vegetables:

Specific problems in economically important vegetables are given in Table 7.

Yield per hectare can be improved substantially if we overcome production problems.

Table 7: Specific problems in vegetables

Vegetables Specific problems
Potato Early and late blight, PLRV
Chilies Phytophthora root rot, viruses, aflatoxin
Onion Purple blotch, downy mildew, thrips, weed infestation
Tomato Early blight, viruses, fruit borer, heat tolerance, nematodes, blossom
end rot
Peas Powdery mildew, root rot, leaf miner, pod borer
Cabbage Head cracking
Okra Pod borer, yellow vein mosaic virus, jassids
Cauliflower Heat tolerance
Cucumber Powdery mildew, downy mildew, cucumber mosaic virus
Brinjal Shoot and Fruit borer
Tinda gourd Powdery mildew

By adopting suitable cultural methods and controlling the pests and diseases, it is
possible to increase the per hectare production considerably. The factors responsible for
low yield are:

 Lack of quality seed of high yielding varieties

 Narrow choice of cultivars
 High incidence of pests and diseases
 Enormous weed infestations
 Poor plant densities
 Low use of fertilizers

Vegetables exports
Agriculture constitutes the largest sector of Pakistan’s economy. This sector
contributes 21.4% to its GDP, provides 40% employment and 60% exports. The horticulture
sub-sector (Fruits and vegetables etc.) contributes 11% to the total value addition in
agriculture sector. The current national horticulture exports are about 400 million US$ (2011-
12). Export of major vegetables is presented in Table 8. Presently Pakistan is mainly
exporting vegetables to Afghanistan, Malaysia, Russian Federation, Bahrain, UAE, Saudi
Arabia and Sri Lanka. Potato, onion, chilies, peas, tomato and frozen and dried
vegetables are few well exported vegetables. Pakistan must explore markets for other
vegetables to avoid relying on only few countries.

Vegetable exports have suffered a significant decrease in 2011-12. The drop in

vegetable exports is a consequence of natural disasters, and a change in supply and
demand dynamics in foreign markets. Around 279,000 metric tonnes potatoes worth 6872
million rupees were exported during 2011-12 as against 426,000 metric tonnes worth
8492 million rupees during 2010-11. There was a decline of 19% value wise. One of the
reasons for the unprecedented hike in potato exports in 2010-11 was the shortage of
potatoes in Russia. Pakistan exported 117,000 tonnes of potatoes to Russia in 2010-11.
The figure dropped to roughly 20,000 tonnes in 2011-12. There was a significant drop in
onion exports during 2011-12 which came down to about 51,000 tonnes compared with
that of 188,000 tonnes during 2010-11. Around 16,000 metric tonnes tomatoes worth 563
million rupees were exported during 2011-12 as against 38,000 metric tonnes worth 1395
million rupees during 2010-11. There was a decline of 60% value wise. However, export
of peas from Pakistan registered an increase of 84% value wise during 2011-12 compared
with that of 2010-11. During 2011-12, about 7456 metric tonnes of peas worth 518
million rupees were exported, compared with 5158 metric tonnes worth 281 million
rupees during 2010-11.
Table 8. Export of major vegetables

Vegetables Quantity Value Quantity Value

(tonnes) (million RS) (tonnes ) (million RS)
2010-11 2010-11 2011-12 2011-12
Potato, fresh & 426014 8492 279313 6872
frozen
Onion, fresh & 188054 4730 50614 693
dried
Tomatoes 38329 1395 15766 563
Chilies (red), 2003 420 822 231
whole & powder
Peas, fresh, frozen 5158 281 7456 518
& dried
Other vegetables, 57163 2350 55928 2248
frozen & dried
Source: Fruit, vegetable and condiments statistics of Pakistan 2011-12

Suggestions

1. Crop improvement and management practices

Produce is not in line with the international standards and internationally

demanded varieties. Research organizations should develop varieties that best meet the
needs of the global market. Development of varieties rich in nutrients and having
resistance against diseases, insect pests, drought, heat and frost will need more emphasis
and concerted efforts. Seed of promising varieties of vegetables should be produced to
ensure regular supply of true-to-type good quality seed. There is a need for improving
and strengthening the seed-producing agencies for better quality seed production and
supply. Hybrid seed production at lower cost should be encouraged. Emerging areas of
science such as biotechnology, bioengineering and tissue culture should be given due
importance in research and multiplication of planting materials. Policy of vegetable
research has to be focused on solving chronic production problems through development
of disease and pest resistant varieties to fit into various cropping systems in different agro
ecological situations. Future strategies in vegetable production must consider increasing
demand for export. This has to be supplemented through crop improvement and better
management practices that can increase the production to meet domestic requirements
and the potential increases in exports.

2. Efficient irrigation system

Vegetables in general are heavy users of moisture and draw a large share of
irrigation resources. The need for high-yielding, short-duration varieties for water use
efficiency is much more than low-yielding ones. Water-saving devices like drip, trickle or
sprinkler irrigation should be encouraged for growing different vegetable crops. Rain fed
and riverbed vegetable production should be promoted. Therefore, it is necessary to
conduct research on efficient irrigation system under our climatic conditions and to make
these technologies available to farmers.

3. Integrated pest management

An increasing awareness and sensitivity to environmental pollution and health
hazards due to the excessive use of pesticides has stimulated integrated pest management
methods in vegetable production which should be pursued.

I) Insect/disease management
Several diseases and insect pests seriously affect vegetable production. Cole crops
like cabbage and cauliflower are attacked by diamondback moth, cabbage butterfly,
cabbage semi-looper and aphids. Aphids are the main pests on root vegetables. Thrips are
important in onion. Fruit and shoot borer is a widely distributed pest mainly on eggplant
(brinjal) and is a very serious one. Red pumpkin beetle is a common pest of cucurbits.
Melon fruit fly is active throughout the year in various parts of the country. Spotted boll
worm and jassids are serious pests of okra. Tomato fruit borer is quite serious throughout
the country. Root knot nematodes seriously affect most vegetables, particularly in light
soils, and cause considerable damage. Insecticides dominate in the strategy of vegetable
pest management in Pakistan. However, care is required in selecting safe pesticides
because residues left on the plants may cause health hazards to people and animals.
Integrated management of disease and insect pests in different vegetable crops needs to
be developed systematically. Since there is an overuse of hazardous insecticides, research
on integrated pest management with minimum use of insecticides has to be undertaken as
a priority.

II) Weed management

The weed menace in vegetables is worse than for other crops since they are grown
mostly on fertile soils with frequent irrigation and heavy manuring. Generally, the
summer and rainy season vegetables suffer more due to weeds as compared to winter
vegetables. Therefore, research with special emphasis on weed control through organic
mean is required.

4. Post harvest handling/value addition

Quality is a combination of agronomic practices, variety characteristics, grading,
processing and finally packaging. The absence of even a single factor makes the product
inferior in quality and thus less acceptable in international markets. Improper handling of
the produce results in a reduction of the market value, keeping quality and food value.

Vegetables are highly perishable in nature and have a very limited shelf life. They
cannot be stored for a longer period unless they are properly harvested and kept in a
temperature-controlled environment (cold storage). Cold storage facilities are not
available in the country that results in very high post harvest losses ranging from 25 to 40
per cent depending on the type of vegetable. Internationally accepted standards of
processing and packing are required to be established. All vegetables being exported are
either unprocessed or have undergone sub-standard processing and packaging. Research
on post harvest value addition of different vegetables has to be undertaken. There may be
an increased demand for processed vegetables in the coming years. Technology for
proper handling, packing, transporting and storing vegetables to preserve quality has to
be developed locally or introduced.
 Unless the productivity is substantially increased, there will be a shortfall in
production to meet domestic requirements. Increasing productivity will not be rewarding
unless technologies are developed for processing of vegetables, and the establishment of
industries at the village level to generate employment and increase incomes of the rural
people. Endeavour should be made to initiate research to develop simple agro-based
industries that can be established in farming communities. Post harvest technology
development of value-added products needs considerable improvement. There is a
demand for both fresh and processed vegetables especially in the Middle East and
European markets.

5. Effective transfer technology system

Most of the work done by agricultural research organizations has not reached the
farmers due to weak extension services and absence of any coordination between the
entities. Vegetable growers are generally small-scale, poor and marginal farmers.
Therefore, vegetable production technology has to be developed keeping the needs of
these farmers in view, while also meeting the requirements of quality and taste of middle-
class society who are the major consumers of vegetables. Research to date has stressed
development of technology for increasing yield, and has not kept in view the limitations
of the growers. The technologies developed cannot research to farmers unless effective
transfer technology system is available. Therefore, close contact between research and
extension scientists should be established. Extension programs on improved technology
of vegetables have to be strengthened. Extension workers need to be fully trained in
vegetable production technology. Vegetable production programs should also be linked
with other rural development programs.