Peach and plum are important fruit crops of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan due to the prevailing conducive agro climatic conditions. Pakistan is a major producer of peach and plum and current statistics shows that peach and plum were produced on area of 14.8 and 6.5 thousand hectares with total production of 73.9 and 49.8 thousand tones. Despite a significant growth, the fruit production of both fruit crops in Pakistan is low. The reasons are numerous, including non-availability of improved varieties and certified fruit nurseries of peach and plum for the commercial orchard growers. Therefore, improvement of peach and plum for high yield, better fruit quality and pest tolerance through different approaches is essential. Initially the local selections, exotic germplasm and mutants of peaches and plum are under evaluation for fruit maturity, dwarfism and fruit quality.

Stone fruits (peach and plum) play a vital role in country’s economy and these are the major source of livelihood in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Northern areas and Baluchistan. In KP these fruits are cultivated successfully in Swat, Hazara, South Waziristan, Charsadda, Peshawar, Chitral and Northern areas of Khyber Pukhtunkhawa. Due to the conducive agro climatic conditions in KP for Peach and Plum there has been an ever growing demand for orchards establishment of better fruit quality and high yielding genotypes. Therefore development of high yielding and better fruit quality genotypes for the agro-climatic KP is of utmost importance.

1. Dr. Roshan Zamir, Deputy Chief Scientist (Group Leader)
   
2. Mr. Shahid Akbar Khalil, Principal Scientist
   

The Horticulture group at NIFA, Peshawar is working on the improvement of peach and plum for high yield, better fruit quality through different approaches. Initially the local selection, exotic germplasm and mutants of peaches are under evaluation for fruit maturity, dwarfism and fruit quality.