Takhar farmers: Our fruit harvests spoil due to lack of cold storages

TALOQAN (Pajhwok): Farmers in northern Takhar province say their agricultural products are either decayed or sold at low prices due to the lack of standard cold storage facilities and impassable roads.

Haji Sayed Jamal, an orchard owner in Warsaj district, told Pajhwok Afghan News: “I have been trained about gardening and I have no problem how to change the traditional method of gardening into mechanized modern system”.

However, he complained they sold their harvests at throwaway prices due to the absence of cold storages in the province.

“Impassible roads are another reason our products do not reach the markets unspoiled.”

He asked the government and aid providing agencies to help orchard owners preserve their perishable fruits like cherries, sour cherries, apricots and peaches so they could extract good profit from their products.

Amanullah, another orchard owner in Dashti Qala District, said orchards produced good yields this year compared to the previous year, but farmers had to transfer the harvests to the provincial capital due to lack of storage facilities. He said the fresh fruits got damaged on the bumpy roads.

He said: “The roads are uneven, our products partially get damaged on the way to markets which brings down their prices, so the government must help us by solving such problems”.

He said: “When apples ripen, we have to sell seven kilograms of apple for just 150 afghanis. If there were cold storages, we would have preserved apples until winter season and could sell each seven kilos of apples for 600 afs.”

Sayed Hikmatullah, another orchard owner, said: “The lack of cold storages and bumpy and rough roads cause the spoilage of agricultural products and owners are forced to sell them at low prices, we want the government to pay attention to this problem”.

Maulavi Rahimullah Ahadi, the head of agriculture livestock and irrigation department of Takhar, said they planned to build some cold storages for such products and works on incomplete such facilities had been resumed.

Ahadi added efforts were underway to build more cold storages and had proposed it to Kabul. “If they are built, the problems of farmers will be solved.”

Takhar is an agricultural province in northeastern Afghanistan, where majority of the people make their ends meet by farming and gardening, but damaged roads and lack of cold storage facilities are serious concerns for orchard owners in the province.

aw/ma

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