According to Ashfaq Palari, a small scale farmer in Mahinda Palari village in the Jamshoro district, the sharp decline in prices of his commodities is quite disappointing.
“Whenever it is our turn, the crop market falls down, leaving us in a helpless situation. Hardly a few days back, we saw onion being sold at Rs100-150/kg in the market. But now its price has dropped to Rs20/kg only,” he said. He also claimed that some growers could not even recoup their costs.
“Tomatoes are facing a similar situation. We were expecting to earn a little amount to recover losses. But tomato prices nosedived and many frustrated farmers have even discarded their crop in the fields,” he told.
Kohistani farmers usually cultivate a particular variety of onions locally known as phulkara, which sometimes gives higher profit, depending on the stability of the market.
Thana Bola Khan is a business hub of the entire Kohistan, where farmers usually depend on rain for cultivation of crops through spate irrigation. The farmers and traders have easy access to supply their products to Karachi and Hyderabad.
