Category: Webinars

The webinar on “Cherry Orchard Management for Good Quality & Yield was held today to educate cherry farmers/growers on the importance of harvesting and handling. Mr. Muhammad Din from Principal Scientist, Mountain Agricultural Research Centre, Juglot, GilgitBaltistan gave a detailed overview of cherry orchard management with special emphasis on fruit setting, fruit development, insect/pest & disease management and nutrition management. He emphasized on regular monitoring of these issues in the orchards and suggested to follow the recommendations especially in the month of June for having better Yield and improved quality of cherry fruit. Mr. Akbar Shah, Senior Vice President, Gilgit Chamber of Small Traders & Industry presented statistics of Cherry production, its varietal spread and associated issues of nurseries and data. The webinar was attended by growers, processors, exporters, R&D and academia associated with Cherry from all over Pakistan.

Value added products of Apple Webinar Minutes of meeting

Harvesting and Storage of Garlic PHDEC in pursuance of its mandate conducted a webinar on “Harvesting and Storage of Garlic”.The webinar provided a platform to the stakeholders to discuss harvesting, post-harvest handling, transportation, loading, unloading, curing & storages issues of garlic to minimize the postharvest losses. The webinar further aimed to discuss the availability of premium quality garlic in domestic market.CEO, PHDEC Mr. Athar Hussain Khokhar briefed the participants on the mandate and upcoming pilot projects of PHDEC. He extended PHDEC’s support to all stakeholders.Experts from NARC, Islamabad and PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi presented the importance of harvest time, maturity indices, harvest process, methods of harvesting, curing & storage, drying methods and preservation techniques for garlic in Pakistan.A large number of processors, progressive growers, R&D, private companies and academia participated in the webinar.

Value added products of Citrus PHDEC while consolidating on its mandate conducted a webinar on “Value-added products of Citrus”. The purpose of the webinar was to share possible interventions in value-addition of citrus. Target audiences of the webinar were processors, progressive growers, R&D and private companies. The stakeholders were from all over the Pakistan. CEO, PHDEC Mr. Athar Hussain Khokhar extended PHDEC’s support to all stakeholders in any product and export related matters. Senior Scientist (Food Technology) from Citrus Research Institute Sargodha explained Pre-Cooling Technology for citrus fruit, canning, grading, packing technology, modified atmosphere technology, drying and processing technology for citrus #fruit in Pakistan. He emphasized on Establishment of agro-processing training institutes, Bulk-handling and storage technology at farms levels, establishing of small food processing plants at district level and encourage direct marketing of products by the farmers. A large number of processors, progressive growers, R&D, private companies and academia participated in the webinar and lauded PHDEC’s initiative.

Harvest & post-harvest handling techniques of Apple Pakistan Horticulture Development & Export Company while pursuing its mandate of product development and value chain optimization, under the guidance and support of Trade Development Authority of Pakistan conducted a webinar on ‘Harvest & post-harvest handling techniques of Apple. Experts from Balochistan Agriculture Department and NARC, Ministry of National Food Security & Research enlightened the small holders of apple on recommended harvesting, postharvest handling, and packing techniques. The efforts of PHDEC were lauded by all stakeholders of the apple value-chain of Pakistan including growers, processors, exporters, R&D and academia.

Webinar on “Training of Farmers on Nursery Propagation, Transplantation & Plant Population of Red Chilies” aimed at building capacity of the farmers on nursery propagation, transplantation of nursery plants & plant population of chilies. Participants of the webinar were progressive grower/farmers of chilies. Experts from PARC-AZRC, NARC & TDAP explained the production technology and different phases involved in the propagation, transplantation and population of chili plants. A large number of growers, farmers, R&D, private companies and academia participated in the webinar and valued this much needed initiative from PHDEC.

Today (April 13, 2023) a Webinar on Biological Control of Insects, Pests of Citrus was organized by Pakistan Horticulture Development & Export Company (PHDEC) in collaboration with the Department of Horticulture, and Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha. A large number of participants participated in this Webinar via zoom link. Experts from the Department of Horticulture, UOS discussed the following in detail:

PHDEC organized a webinar on “Post-harvest Management, Logistics, and Storage of Potato”. Potato is an important vegetable crop of Pakistan with an annual production of about 8MMT. Its supply/harvesting starts in the month of December and concludes in April every year in Punjab. Bearing in mind the importance of this transitional phase, PHDEC conducted this webinar with a special focus on harvesting, postharvest handling, transportation, bagging, stacking, loading, unloading, storage etc to minimise the posharvest losses and for the availability of the premium quality produce in the domestic and high-end market. To enlighten the participants on the subject matter, experts from research institutes and the potato grower’s society, Okara were invited. A large number of growers/farmers, processors, exporters, academia and R&D institutes participated in the webinar. The audience appreciated PHDEC’s initiative of training workshops/seminars in potato production hubs.  

Pakistan Horticulture Development & Export Company held an online pre-season seminar on mango wherein the current burning issues of mango sector such as harvesting, handling and transportation were discussed at large. The seminar was delivered by Dr. Muhammad Amin from The Islamia University of Bahawalpur Pakistan. The seminar was attended by participants from University of Agriculture Faisalabad – Official, mango growers from Punjab and Sindh, processors etc. The seminar will enable stakeholders to prepare their produce in line with the International standards resulting in expansion of mango exports from Pakistan.

Pakistan Horticulture Development & Export Company conducted a webinar on “Recent Advancements in Pakistan for Trade Compliance to Aflatoxin & MRLs in Red Chillies”.Due to aflatoxin issue, chilie export from Pakistan has observed a decrease of around 9%. The webinar aimed at disseminating information on recent developments in management of aflatoxin and pesticide residual issues to the stakeholders. Dr. Mubarak Ahmed, Consultant (Agro) Trade Development Authority of Pakistan , Dr. Hamza Shabaz from CABI-Pakistan, Dr. Farrakh Mehboob and Dr Atif Jamal from NARC, Ministry of National Food Security & Research were among the presenters. A large number of participants from growers, processors, exporters, R&D and academia participated in the webinar. The participants raised questions of availability of solar dryers, bio pesticides, and other related issues. The initiative was greatly lauded by all participants in attendance and further requested to conduct capacity building seminars/workshops on Good Agriculture Practices of Chilies in chili growing areas.