Islamabad: The European Union has imposed a ban on the import of red chillies from Pakistan as the commodity has been found infected with fungal disease Aflatoxin that produces one of the worst form of cancer in human beings, a news report has said.

A spokesperson for Agribusiness Development and Diversification Project's Implementation Office (PIO) in Pakistan's Sindh province was quoted as saying by the Business Recorder financial daily that exports of millions of tonnes of chillies had stopped due to a post-harvest fungal disease Aflatoxin.

The report said that due to the existence of Aflatoxin, which is one of the worst cancer producer in human beings, export of red chillies from Pakistan has been banned to the European countries. Chilli exporters, growers and processors have now proposed a visit to India, likely to take palace in February, to educate themselves on the processing and drying system used in the neighbouring country so that it could be appropriately adopted in Pakistan to boost its export and meet the WTO conditionalities and international standards, the report said.

The chilli growers have also proposed the possible import of machinery and technology from India if it could upgrade the Pakistani technology used in processing and drying of the commodity. The production of chillies in Pakistan is also suffering from the fatal Fusarium and Phytium diseases in the field, while Aspergilus Falvus - a fungal disease in the post harvest stage - produces Aflatoxin.

The production of chillies in Pakistan has decreased by 49.6 percent this year. Post harvest losses were also higher this year compared to last year. Pakistan achieved 61,900 tonnes of chilli in the current year compared to 122,900 tonnes last year, the report said.

Source : PTI