Sar-e-Pul Farmers Struggle with Market Challenges and Storage Shortages

A number of farmers in Sar-e-Pul say they have suffered financial losses due to the absence of a proper market, standard cold storage facilities, and challenging transportation routes for their agricultural products.

According to them, this solar year, no serious measures have been taken to facilitate the transportation of onions from the province, leading to financial setbacks for farmers.

Mohammad Qasim, a farmer, said: “Our onions have been stuck at the Torkham border for almost 21 days. At home, they have started to rot. When we take them to the market, traders from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan refuse to buy them, saying they already have their own onions, which are of better quality.”

Another farmer, Badr, stated: “Our livelihood depends on onion farming. We pay workers 300 Afghanis daily, put in a lot of effort, and spend money on fertilizers and water. But when our onions are ready, foreign onions flood the market, dropping our onion prices to just 50 Afghanis, which is a huge loss for us.”

However, the Sar-e-Pul Directorate of Agriculture and Irrigation assures that efforts are underway to find suitable markets for the province’s agricultural products.

Sharifullah Mosdaq, head of the agricultural division at the Sar-e-Pul Directorate of Agriculture and Irrigation, said: “We have raised the issue in international exhibitions and urged traders and business owners to export Sar-e-Pul’s onions to other provinces and even abroad so that prices increase and farmers do not suffer losses.”

According to data from the Sar-e-Pul Directorate of Agriculture and Irrigation, last year, onions were cultivated on 850 hectares of land in the province, yielding 20,000 tons of produce. However, this year, onion cultivation expanded to 900 hectares, producing 30,150 tons.