Nangarhar farmers hurt by drop in onion prices

JALALABAD (TOLOnews): The price of onions has decreased by 50% in Nangarhar markets and farmers in this province said that the decrease in the price of onions has made them face huge financial losses.
“We ask the government to increase foreign onion customs tariffs when it is onion season so the sales of our country’s produce will not be damaged,” said Khapalwak, a farmer.
“We call on the government and organizations to help provide us with cold storage for our products,’ said Shams Rahman, an investor.
Some vegetable sellers are happy about the decrease in onion prices and said that previously the price of onions had increased in th country.
“Two months ago, the price of 7 kg of onions reached 650 Afghani, and now it is reduced by 50 percent so 7 Kg of onion is 350 Afghani,” said Abdullah.
Meanwhile, the Agriculture and Irrigation Department said that work on building a big cold storage area has begun in this province. “Before when we had cold storage there was the capacity to keep 5,000 tons of products and now we want to rebuild it,” said Nematullah Akbari, head of the agriculture services in the Agriculture and Irrigation Department.
According to local officials’ information, this year farmers have cultivated 2,214 hectares of onions in ten districts of Nangarhar.