Quality Improvement in Vegetables

Abstract

The vegetable industry contributes heavily to the national economy. In addition to the farmer’s role, millions of people are involved in processing, transporting, and marketing of vegetables and in maturfucturing and supplying of machines, seed, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, package and related material. Extensive educational supply and maintained services are necessarily associated with physical requirement of the vegetable industry. The present outlook indicates that the vegetable industry would continue to be an important and a comparatively profitable ranch of agriculture with the increasing competition in profit reducing the cost production and marketing. This can be accomplished by growing improved varieties, using fertilizer judiciously, practicing effective pest control, supplementing cultivation with herbicides, managing labour more efficiently, utilizing mechanical harv3estors and other marketing methods. Looking forwards the structure of statistical of Pakistan; in the Punjab and N.W.F.P provinces, vegetables are in excess to their requirements, whereas production of Sind and Baluchistan is not enough to meet the requirements of the present population. As per available statistics the total area under vegetable in Sindh province is 77.5 thousand hectare whereas the production reported to be 96.8 thousand tons. The per capita consumption in Sind is about 29 grams where balance diet should contain at least 368 grams per day. As per the recommendation of nutrition Expert FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization ), assuming per capita in take 368 grams per day, the requirement of present population of Sind province which is 11.7 million heads is estimated at4.306 thousand metric tons per day or 1571.69 thousand metric tons per annum.