Current Activities

Summary Note on Current Strawberry Activities in Sindh

CSF under its Sindh Development Fund (SDF) window has imported two new varieties of Strawberry saplings i.e ‘Sweet Charlie’ and ‘Festival’. These have been imported for the first time from the United States and have been planted in district Khairpur in Sindh. Neither variety has been grown in Pakistan before.

The saplings have been planted over an area of one acre on experimental basis and are expected to bear fruit from late January to March. If successful, the initial project is likely to generate huge interest and potential for export of the fruit in the years to come. A pre-feasibility for taking it to commercial scale has already been prepared by CSF and approved by appraisal and steering committees of SDF.

Over the past decade the fruit has seen phenomenal popularity in the country and is now grown in great abundance for domestic consumption between February and April. Some of the varieties grown in Pakistan are Chandelier, Corona and Stuff. These are mostly sour and small in size. However, the two new varieties imported by CSF, through the Sindh Development are larger and sweeter.

There are a number of countries, including some in the Gulf, Central Asia and Russia, which import these strawberries in the winter months but during winter time they only get frozen strawberries. However, Pakistan will be able to target these markets with fresh fruit if the current project is successful. The whole idea is to successfully demonstrate that international standard strawberries can be grown in Pakistan which has a huge export potential primarily in Gulf market.

CSF is making sure that these saplings are planted as per the international best practices. Once the fruiting starts in late January then trial shipments will be sent to UAE to gauge the market response and potential.