Pakistan - Country Office

1. Overview
2. Country Strategy
3. Priorities
4. Key Program Managers
5. Current Projects
6. Concluded Projects
7. Achievements
8. Relevant Publications
9. Country News and Stories
10. Benefits of Past Projects
11. Country Office
12. Country Portfolio
13. AusAid and Other Briefs
14. Fellowship Statistics

Country Office

Key indicators and performance for 2006-07

Indicator: Agriculture Sector Linkages Program (ASLP) components implemented that address Pakistan priorities and make optimal use of Australian technical expertise

Performance: Three projects in mango production, mango supply chain development and citrus production have been implemented. A fourth project on increasing dairy extension effectiveness is due to be implemented in July.

Indicator: Government of Pakistan (GoP) funded program to disseminate bed-planting technology in other maize-wheat growing regions initiated

Performance: A five-year, $11-million GoP program established aimed at establishing 1000 farmer cluster groups based on the model trialled and using technology developed by ACIAR.

Indicator: Proof-of-concept of serial biological concentration of irrigation drainage water providing the basis for piloting in other districts of Punjab and Sindh provinces

Performance: While two pilot sites were successfully established, the original serial biological concentration concept did not work as well as anticipated

Indicator: Forty per cent of new projects designed to have farmer or policy impacts within five years of completion

Performance: The supply chain development project is specifically designed to achieve early impacts. Projects on mango and citrus production, are classified as medium term impact projects, but have elements that lend themselves to rapid dissemination and uptake by farmers

Achievements from the 2006-07 Annual Report

Under the auspices of the Agriculture Sector Linkages Program (ASLP), the Pakistan program is focusing on two thematic priorities: horticulture and dairy. Water is also a cross-cutting theme, which underpins these priorities as well as linking the expanded Pakistan program to earlier ACIAR-funded research. The focus of the past year has been to complete the design of four R&D projects. New projects were developed for the mango and citrus sectors and in the dairy production sector. A dairy knowledge fair was jointly organised with Austrade in Lahore in February 2007.

The sustainable development of the mango industry in both Pakistan and Australia has been hampered by a shortage of high-quality fruit for export. In addition to postharvest handling and storage, disease and pest losses, variable productivity due to orchard management issues, and market access challenges constrain mango industry development. A project seeks to establish ‘clean’ mango nurseries so that high-quality planting material is made widely available to the Pakistan industry. The project is also developing improved tree husbandry and management options to produce sustainable yields and quality fruit; to develop improved detection and management strategies for mango sudden death disease syndrome (MSDS) and other major diseases of mangoes, and to build research capacity in the mango industry.

Much of Pakistan’s fruit and vegetable production, including mangoes, is not fully utilised¾due to poor harvesting, handling and other postharvest practices. A project is addressing key constraints currently limiting the efficiency, effectiveness and competitiveness of supply chains for Pakistan mangoes. It aims to improve and maintain mango quality from harvest to consumption by identifying present market needs and likely future opportunities for Pakistan mangoes, through analysis of existing supply chains and the development of improved supply chain management systems and practices.

Pakistan has set an annual export target for citrus of 500,000 tonnes within the next 5 years, and $300 million in export earnings by 2013, but some key constraints need to be addressed to achieve these ambitious targets. A new project has been developed after an ACIAR-supported scoping study outlined key constraints to a more productive citrus industry. Its principal aim is to improve mandarin and orange productivity in Pakistan (and Australia) through improved nursery production practices, demonstration of ‘best practice’ orchard management, and enhanced research, extension and production capacity of Pakistan citrus institutions and industry.

Severe epidemics of plant diseases caused by geminiviruses have emerged in recent years. Australia and Pakistan have collaborated to learn more about them and particularly their effect on cotton and tomato crops. The upsurge in the occurrence of geminiviruses is linked to the spread of their vector, the whitefly Bemisia tabaci. Epidemics in Pakistan during the 1990s were especially severe, with huge losses in cotton and related industries, while in northern Australia the prospect of large losses through geminivirus of tomato is increasing. From field surveys and complementary work on virus characterisation the scientists have found that cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD) in Pakistan can actually be caused by several different viruses. Virus disease complexes were also identified from leaf curl diseases of tomato, chilli, cucurbits, okra, papaya and the yellow vein disease of the weed Ageratum conyzoides (which acts a reservoir of infection for cotton crops). In parallel with the cotton work, understanding of the tomato leaf curl disease and spread has been enhanced in Pakistan, AVRDC (The World Vegetable Centre) and Australia. The outcomes of this project will be used in plant breeding programs aimed at producing geminivirus-resistant cultivars of cotton and tomatoes. 

Residue burning is widespread in rice-wheat systems of Pakistan, causing serious air pollution and loss of nutrients. In response to this problem, the Farm Machinery Institute (FMI) of Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) Islamabad recently designed and built a prototype machine (the ‘FMI Seeder’) for direct seeding wheat into rice residues, in a single operation based on a similar machine developed in another ACIAR project in the Punjab. However, while the problem has almost been solved mechanically, there are a number of agronomic issues to be resolved to achieve good establishment and crop performance. A project is evaluating and refining the technology for a range of stubble, soil and seasonal conditions, and developing guidelines for achieving good establishment, efficient use of nitrogen fertiliser and high yields in rice–wheat and alternative systems. The project is making progress in further developing the machinery and establishing operational guidelines for the novel seeder, in preparation for its commercialisation and widespread distribution.