SMEs urge for lifting ban on khashkhash, gurr and bhang trade

KARACHI: The farmers’ unions urged the Commerce Ministry (Mincom) and the Ministry of Planning and Special Initiatives (MoP&SI) to allow the exports of khashkhash (white food grade), jaggery (gurr) and medicinal and industrial hemp (bhang), a statement said.

The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) and the Small and Medium Enterprises Farmers Association (Smefa) urged the concerned ministries to enable the SMEs in generating income and uplift their standard of living.

The Unisame Council urged MoP&SI Minister Prof Ahsan Iqbal to take up the matter which will play an important role in poverty alleviation and uplift the underprivileged sector.

The Council members also urged the minister to promote the export of geographical indication (GI) items of Pakistan.

The Pakistan Standard Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) has adopted standards for khashKhash and gurr as food and issued an acceptable benchmark for international trade for both the food commodities,” the statement said.

Unisame President Zulfikar Thaver said that the union is thankful to Smeda and PSQCA for supporting their demand to lift the ban on khashkhash and gurr exports.

The Unisame is also thankful to the honourable Lahore High Court (LHC) for refraining provincial and federal governments from creating impediments in the manufacturing of gurr, he added.
Despite the recommendations of Smeda and the Ministry of Industries and Production (MoI&P) the policy makers remained undecided, Thaver lamented.

In the meantime the sector has also approached the World Food Programme, the World Food Organisation and the World Health Organisation to remove the impediments in allowing the government of Pakistan to grow khashkhash and to process it and export it to global destinations.