Tomato prices jump to record high in Kabul

KABUL and as a result the tomato’s price increased six times in capital Kabul, an official said Sunday.

Afghanistan vegetables export mentoring association head Omid Haidari told Pajhwok Afghan News one kilogram of tomato’s price increased from 20 afghanis to 120 afghanis a kilogram within one month. He said today one kilogram of tomato was sold for 85 afghanis.

According to Haidari’s information, Afghanistan exported 90,000 tons of tomato to neighboring Iran and Pakistan last summer because Afghanistan lacked cold storages.

In some provinces where the weather is warm, people cultivate tomato in green houses but the production is only consumed locally.

In winter, Kabul started receiving imported tomato from Pakistan and Iran but the imports have declined and thus the tomato’s price has increased several folds.

He said in the past Iran would export two types of tomato to Afghanistan one called “simple” and another “Gulkhana” but the country had stopped exporting the simple tomato and only sent Gulkhana which was sold at a high price.

In the past, Iran would export the Gulkhana tomato to Tajikistan, the United Arab Emirate (UEA) and Russia, but now the country exports it to Afghanistan because the vegetable sold at a high price here.

Akbar Rustami, the Agriculture Ministry’s spokesman, told Pajhwok they had prioritized for creating greenhouses throughout the country.

pk/ma

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