ISLAMABAD: Modern farming techniques could help Pakistan to grow ginger locally and enhance the income of farmers instead of importing it from abroad, experts told WealthPK.
They said that being an important ingredient of Pakistani cuisine, ginger can become a cash crop in the country as it had enormous potential for sustainable farming. Pakistan is an agricultural country but ginger is not grown locally. Ginger is imported from abroad in a large quantity every year.
The total share of the agriculture sector in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Pakistan is about 22.7 percent. At least 37.4 percent of labour force in the country is attached to the agriculture sector.
Dr. Ghulam Jilani, Principal Scientific Officer at the National Agriculture Research Centre (NARC), told WealthPK that ginger was extensively used in various ways so Pakistan imported it in a large quantity. “To minimise our reliance on imports, there is a dire need to find ways to cultivate ginger in Pakistan,” he added.
Dr. Ghulam Muhammad Ali, Chairman of PARC, said that the seeds of ginger imported from various countries were cultivated in different areas of Punjab on an experimental basis. He added that the experiment was successful.
“Pakistan is in the process of variety development. Right now, at the National Institute of Genomics and Advanced Biotechnology (NIGAB), we are doing trials and getting successful results,” he said.
Dr. Ghulam Muhammad said that the soil requirements for ginger cultivation were quite different. He said that the soil suitable for ginger farming should be acidic or neutral in nature. “Alkaline soil doesn’t suit it. To get better results, we have to do soil amendments,” he added.
He said that the ginger crop needed a mild temperature of 20C to 30C. High temperature is not good for the ginger crop. “The government should identify the areas with the desired soil and temperature like Mansehra and Shinkiari for growing ginger,” he added.
However, Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, another principal scientific officer at NARC, told WealthPK that Pakistan did not have a proper environment to grow ginger. “Pakistan comes at the 41st number in production of ginger. The cultivation area of ginger in the country is 27,500 hectares, producing 122 tonnes of ginger. It is not sufficient for our domestic needs,” he added.
He said that in 2019-2020, Pakistan imported 93,193 tonnes of ginger, mostly from Thailand or China. “We have imported around 80,000 to 90,000 tonnes of ginger during the last five years,” he added.
Dr. Iqbal said that they were devising strategies to find suitable areas for ginger cultivation with a natural environment instead of utilising resources on providing a suitable environment to the crop.
“In coastal areas, we can get more yield. We should go for the coastal line where less inputs will be required and temperature will be mild and suitable for growing ginger,” he said. He added that Pakistan could become self-sufficient in ginger production by adopting modern farming techniques to meet the local demand.
Dr. Iqbal said that hinger cultivation would enable the farmers to increase their income and strengthen the national economy. “The government should arrange seminars to inform farmers about the market size of ginger at the international level, ginger farm management, seed saving, cultivation and proper harvesting techniques,” he added.
He said that only high yield verities should be selected for experiments to get successful results. “It is important for Pakistan to produce a sufficient quantity of ginger for local needs as well as export,” he added.
