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Pakistani mango growers are hoping to take a slice out of rival India's export market, thanks to tough new European Union regulations.
The yellow fruit is a contentious matter regionally, with both countries proclaiming it a national treasure and fighting over whose specimens are superior.
Economically, at least, mango exports are one area where Pakistan appears to have a slight edge.
Pakistan last year exported about 100,000 tonnes worth for a revenue of US$48.6 million over India's 56,000 tonnes for US$44.6 million.
But a European Union ban on India's prized Alphonsos, known as the "King of Fruits", has presented Pakistan with a chance to widen the gap.

	Fruit fly hasn't only affected India but has threatened our orchards also

	Syed Ismat Hussain, pest controller
The embargo came into force on May 1 after many shipments were found to contain fruit flies and also affected four types of vegetables.
For Raja Ijaz Ahmed Noon, parliamentary secretary for Pakistan's Punjab province, improving farming standards and learning where India went wrong is critical to cashing in.
"We are taking this development as positive. We are trying to learn from the mistake which India has made," he said.
Noon was speaking after a seminar of 50 landowner-farmers at a fruit-farm northeast of the central city of Multan to learn new methods of protecting mangoes from hazardous insects.
"We have a potential to export 40 per cent of our total production of mangoes and this year we will try to improve our exports up to 16 per cent," he said.
Syed Ismat Hussain, a senior pest control official, said his department was visiting farms and orchards to spread the word about the lucrative profits available if Pakistan could continue to meet EU standards.
"Fruit fly hasn't only affected India but has threatened our orchards also. So we have devised simple but scientific methods to control it," he said.
Experts are busy hanging plastic bowls on mango trees that are laced with chemicals that mimic female-fly pheromones to attract males.
"The holes are for the flies to enter, but they never fly out," explained Hussain. The so-called sex-trap is fast becoming an industry standard.
Meanwhile, a special awareness campaign on fighting the insect has also been initiated in newspapers and on television and social media.
Syed Zahid Hussain Gardezi, president of the Mango Growers Association of Pakistan, said he was hopeful about the chances for global growth in markets such as the EU, the US and Canada if the campaign was a success.
"We have to work very meticulously, very scientifically to capture those markets," he said.
Habib Agha, an exporter who sends his fruit to Scandinavia, said he hoped to increase his shipments fourfold this year.


Pakistani mango growers slice into India's market after EU embargo

A mango farm northeast of the Pakistani city of Multan, where local growers see an opportunity to increase exports to the EU. Photo: AFP

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Pakistani mango growers see chance to take a slice out of rival India's market after EU ban


Pakistani mango growers are hoping to take a slice out of rival India's export market, thanks to tough new European Union regulations.


Pakistani mango growers slice into India's market after EU embargo

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Pakistani mango growers see chance to take a slice out of rival India's market after EU ban

Pakistani mango growers see chance to take a slice out of rival India's market after EU ban