Papaya, a potential export star vanishing from water-strapped Sindh

HYDERABAD: In the absence of any official support and research to develop papaya into an export-worthy commodity, farmers are switching to other fruits amid rampant water scarcity and soil degradation in the wide swathes of Sindh province.

Papaya plants grow fast and their productivity is also high. Producers earn enough income as there is a huge demand for this fruit in the market because of its taste, nutrients, and health benefits.

This year contractors and traders claimed to have paid Rs500,000-800,000 per acre for annual contract, depending on the plant's health and number of trees. Each orchard holds around 100 fruits or more, measuring one or 1.5 kg each.

Papaya prices at the local market range from Rs150-kg to Rs300-kg or more, depending on its freshness and quality.

Despite this, reports show farmers either cleared the orchards themselves or they dried out because of unavailability of water in the irrigation systems.

Anyways, farmers having access to irrigation water love to cultivate this fruit and get high product and earnings. Presently, papaya farms are available on small pieces in parts of Hyderabad, Matiari, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Khairpur, Nawabshah, Badin, Thatta and Sujawal districts.

According to farmers, papaya plants are vulnerable to virus attacks and other diseases. Apart from this, its initial process of cultivation is quite difficult, costly, and uncertain. The plant needs pleasant weather and care with proper water to strengthen.

Some farmers said they had experimentally cultivated papaya on their small pieces of land but it could not survive due to water scarcity and weather pattern changes.

Farmers near Jhudo, Mirpurkhas and Kaloi in Tharparkar districts linked the loss of these papaya farms to water scarcity, which has destroyed their valuable gardens. Since then they are reluctant to cultivate it again.

“We had banana and papaya in a wide area long ago, but now hardly a few farmers produce this fruit, keeping the old tradition alive, set by their forefathers,” said Adama Jayaro, a coastal area farmer and a writer.

He said it was quite recently that papaya producers had experienced huge losses due to drying gardens in the wide coastal area because of acute shortage of water.

“Main problems the coastal farmers are facing include increasing sea intrusion, water scarcity, and weather pattern changes,” Jayaro said.

“You may see small pieces of banana plantations in the area, which too may vanish sooner or later, as the sea is claiming fertile land continuously,” he added.

Research reports show Sindh has pleasant weather to produce all citrus varieties, papaya, and dates. But the irony is that these fruits have attracted only a few farmers in specific areas for production. For example, Khairpur is known for producing a variety of dates, while Naushehro Feroz produces lemon largely.

Likewise, almost two decades ago, Malir area of Karachi and Keti bunder coastal zone in Thatta district were famous for producing old varieties of papaya. Now both the areas don’t have this fruit for commercial purposes. Only a few farmers in the Keti Bunder area have kept grown papaya on small pieces of land just to keep the tradition alive.

Ghulam Sarwar Panhwar, who claims to produce 13 different fruit varieties, including four sugarless mango varieties for diabetic patients in Hyderabad district, said, “Majority of leading growers seem reluctant to to produce papaya because of its slow selling pace in the local markets, compared to mango, banana, guava and other new varieties”.

Panhwar said papaya was yet to create demand in the local as well as international market.

“That is why farmers prefer to cultivate mango, banana, guava, lemon and other fruits because of their economic value.”

Papaya being a highly perishable fruit, it required proper water and care as scorching heat, biting cold and heavy rains could destroy it instantly, said he.

Panhwar justified that banana, guava and mango were competing well with papaya in terms of demand in the market.

He said adopting new emerging papaya varieties known as hybrid with high density was a compulsion of farmers.

Farmers pleaded the agricultural land in Sindh province was decreasing fast due to many reasons, mainly increasing sea intrusion, urbanisation and excessive use of irrigation water and chemical input, which had caused water logging everywhere.

In result not only coastal districts like Thatta, Sujawal, and Badin, wide areas in the neighbouring districts have turned barren land or water-logged, which are no more useful for producing crops.

“We have seen mango orchards converting into housing schemes,” he said.

Private nurseries managers in Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas districts said there used to be a strong demand for papaya plants by farmers as well as individuals but due

to faulty seeds and uncertain germination they were shifting to other fruit-bearing plants.

Presently, the price of each plant of traditional varieties is ranging from Rs100 to Rs200. But in fact the sale of mango, guava, lemon, and banana is high compared to papaya.

For this, traders say papaya is costly and only a few people can afford it. Low income people have the choice to buy other fruits like mango, banana etc, available at reasonable rates.

Rural people still love immature papaya to cook as a vegetable or use it for home remedy to cure different ailments like indigestion and skin problems. Papaya leaves are believed to restore platelet count in patients suffering from dengue fever and treat snake bites. People also keep its seeds and roots at homes for their health benefits.

Farmers, who produce papaya look happy, but urge the government to promote this fruit by offering incentives for them. Because, besides its nutrition, taste and healing powers, papaya can become an import part of the country’s horticulture exports, helping rural economies to improve.