Source Oman Tribune
The guava orchards which once surrounded the whole Kohat city in northwest Pakistan and its outskirts are diminishing fast to give way to commercial plazas, depriving the area of the much-needed greenery and fresh air.
The worst-affected locality in the city is Jarwanda which had guava orchards for hundreds of years.
Similarly, guava orchards along the Bannu bypass, Hangu road and Dhodha would once provide a patch of cold breeze in hot summer to the city dwellers and travellers. But these have now been replaced by buildings, as several housing societies are active in the area.
However, guava fruit is still served to guests and regarded as part of lunch. Guava is a specialty of Kohat.
The guava tree takes about five years to grow and start giving fruit while the growers have to wait till then for return of their investment.
But now they could erect a commercial plaza within a year and start monetary returns because of the commercialisation on Kohat-Thall highway and other major roads passing through thick guava orchards. The guava orchards once occupied thousands of acres of land in Kohat, but entrepreneurs never thought to establish a profitable juice plant. The country spends a huge amount of money on importing guava juice, but locally produced fruits are rotting due to ancient techniques of preserving the fruit, which has a shelf life of five hours in winter.
The bureaucracy and politicians never bothered to invite officials from the forestry department or especially the department created for guava research to increase its output and lure the investors to construct the juice industry. There are still hundred-years-old guava orchards near Tanda Dam the most famous of which are located in Kaghazai area whose fruit is being sold in Peshawar and Rawalpindi for Rs150 per kilogramme.
The prices of guava orchards have jumped from a few thousand rupees to millions due to their high income in famous areas which produced apple-like sweet fruit.
The worst-affected locality in the city is Jarwanda which had guava orchards for hundreds of years.
Similarly, guava orchards along the Bannu bypass, Hangu road and Dhodha would once provide a patch of cold breeze in hot summer to the city dwellers and travellers. But these have now been replaced by buildings, as several housing societies are active in the area.
However, guava fruit is still served to guests and regarded as part of lunch. Guava is a specialty of Kohat.
The guava tree takes about five years to grow and start giving fruit while the growers have to wait till then for return of their investment.
But now they could erect a commercial plaza within a year and start monetary returns because of the commercialisation on Kohat-Thall highway and other major roads passing through thick guava orchards. The guava orchards once occupied thousands of acres of land in Kohat, but entrepreneurs never thought to establish a profitable juice plant. The country spends a huge amount of money on importing guava juice, but locally produced fruits are rotting due to ancient techniques of preserving the fruit, which has a shelf life of five hours in winter.
The bureaucracy and politicians never bothered to invite officials from the forestry department or especially the department created for guava research to increase its output and lure the investors to construct the juice industry. There are still hundred-years-old guava orchards near Tanda Dam the most famous of which are located in Kaghazai area whose fruit is being sold in Peshawar and Rawalpindi for Rs150 per kilogramme.
The prices of guava orchards have jumped from a few thousand rupees to millions due to their high income in famous areas which produced apple-like sweet fruit.
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