Farmers in Ghazni Province say they are witnessing an unusually high yield of tomatoes this season, but prices have plummeted amid weak domestic demand and a lack of access to regional export markets.
Among those affected is Abu Zar, a young farmer who has rented 20 beswah (about 2,800 square meters) of land on the outskirts of Ghazni city to build a greenhouse for tomato cultivation. Despite the strong harvest, he says the costs of production — including fertilizers, water, pesticides, and rent — far outweigh the meager returns from sales.
"There's a lot of effort involved," Abu Zar said. "But when we take the produce to market, they buy it for almost nothing. After selling, we can't even recover our expenses — the fertilizer, water, and land rent."
Like many others in the province, Abu Zar says he has received no assistance from agricultural agencies or relevant public institutions. Other farmers echoed similar concerns. Hussein, another grower in Ghazni, said they are selling top-quality tomatoes for as little as 15 Afghanis per kilogram. "The markets are terrible," he said. "It's not worth it for us anymore."
Read more at AMU
