‘Jawzjan produces over 116,000 tonnes melon this season’

SHEBERGHAN (Pajhwok): Over 116,000 tonnes of melon harvested in northern Jawzjan province this season, an official said on Wednesday.

This comes that farmers have expressed their worries about the lack of market for their yield and seek government support in this regard.

Concerned about suitable market for their products, farmers sell each seven-kilos of melon for 20 Afs, nevertheless they still cannot find enough customers for their melons.

Amanullah is one of the farmers who supplied his melons to market, he told Pajhwok Afghan News that his sales were considerably good at the beginning but its price was very low now.

On Wednesday July 10, the farmers supplied their melon products to the market with the lowest price, each seven kilo of melon for 20 Afs but they still could not find enough customers to purchase the supplied melons to the market.

He said: “Some of the farmers even cannot get their money back what they spent on melons; I also cannot get my money back what I spent during this year.”

He said: “Most of Jawzjan melon is sold in the markets of the neighboring provinces, the melons low price is second problem, with natural pest the third issue, so the Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation department should help the farmers to sell their products.”

Shahr Bano, a landlord of Sheberghan told Pajhwok: “I ordered my farmers to grown melon on my five acres of land, however most of the melon bushes were damaged by pests, but the rest of harvest was considerable high this year.”

As she was worried about the low market for her products, she said: “We all work in land from dawn to dusk, we cannot get our expenses back, the melon price is very low and too less of the melon is sold in the market.”

Another landlord, Gulalai also talked about a considerable melon harvest from her land, she said that she sold less of her harvests and her most melons would go rotten.

She called on officials to help her in marketing and build more cold storages in that province.

However, the agriculture department official confirmed higher amount of melon product, an official Ghulam Nabi Nikbin told Pajhwok that over 114,000 tonnes of melon was harvested from water-fed land and over 2,000 tonnes melon was harvested from rain-fed land in Jawzjan this year.

Without sharing the exact figures of last years, he estimated the current year’s melon harvest 30 percent higher.

About the concerns of the farmers, he said: “Efforts are underway to increase the sales of melon and prevent the financial losses of the farmers.”

Provincial agriculture department had always made its efforts to help the farmers, the department distributed modified melon seeds and chemical fertilizers for the farmers, helped them with dripping irrigation system and the prevention of pests, Nikbin explained.

Aw/nh

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