Bhalwal - Pakistan's 'California'

摘要

The Kinnow, a traditional mandarin orange with its own typical taste, a high juice content and an extremely vivid colouring, is an ideal product for markets hungry for innovation. For fifty years now, the fruit has been grown on plantations of the immensely fertile Indus system in the Pakistani province of Punjab. The next largest city (and the capital of the district) is Sargodha; however, the hub of Kinnow production with a share of 80% is Bhalwal, an insignificant place on the railway line betweenSargodha, Malalwal and the Jhelum river with the town of the same name. During the British colonial era, the province was criss-crossed by a system of canals which functions up to the present day and allows the cultivation of grain, sugar cane - and Kinnows. The water there is of excellent quality.