Just 53 kilometers away from Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, a traveler to district Attock, has a pleasant surprise to see – a farm with Papaya, the exotic fruit never previously cultivated in this part of the country.
The fruit of tropical origin is being cultivated in some remote parts of Sindh province only with warmer climate.
The Papaya farming has been introduced in this part of Pakistan by Pandak Farms, owned by a Pakistan-American Mossadaq Chughtai.
“We have launched a pilot project to grow papaya. Hybrid papaya seeds were sown in tubes in February. Now the papaya nursery is being shifted to the ground,“ says a jubilant Chughtai.
The plants will be shifted to high tunnels in the coming months to protect them from severe weather, especially near freezing temperatures in winter.
These farms are using three different types of tunnels (high bamboo tunnels, walk-through galvanized pipe tunnels and low steel tunnels) to grow off-season or early vegetables and fruits including Papaya.
It is the first time that papaya is being grown in Attock district (northern Punjab) where Pandak Farms is located. The Pandak Farms will expand the area of papaya cultivation once the pilot project is successful. Currently, high tunnels at Pandak Farms are used to grow off-season cucumber, bitter gourd, eggplant, capsicum and green chilies.
Papaya is originally traced to have been grown in southern Mexico (particularly Chiapas and Veracruz), Central America, and northern South America.
But now the fruit is cultivated in most tropical countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
In Pakistan, the total areas under Papaya orchards is just 1945 hectares and, the annual production is 8932 tonnes, much below the ever increasing demand for this tropical fruit.
Pandak Farms are blooming into a success story with a lot of innovation techniques making it a model for farmers interested in the judicious use of water through the use of conservation techniques and modern cultivation technology.
The Farms have already been producing fruits like oranges and melons, and olives in addition to vegetables, peanuts, grains and fodder and the organic dairy products.
The produce is sold at the farm gate, wholesale markets as well as home-delivered to a growing clientele in Islamabad and Abbottabad.
“We are strategically located on two major national highways, (GT Road and Motorway), to serve number of nearby domestic markets. Its location also gives us easy and quick land access to the export markets of Afghanistan, Central Asia and China,” says Mossadaq Chughtai.
The farms have also developed Pakistan’s first ever melon plantation where 35,000 melon vines were shifted trays to nursery, prepared from hybrid seeds.
The melons have given tremendous results in the sandy-loam soil of Pandak Farms. Melons from Pandak Farms are in demand in the wholesale markets of Islamabad, Abbotabad and Hazro because of their sweetness and long shelf life, according to the farm management.
In addition to tunnel farming technology, the farm is using water conservation techniques including drip irrigation and solar-powered tube wells to avert flood irrigation that is considered a major cause for agrarian loss in water- deficient countries like Pakistan.
