Farmer protests in Sindh region of Pakistan grow stronger to ban onion and tomato imports

Published 2021년 1월 13일
Small scale protests are happening in Sindh, Pakistan which is led by exporters and farmers. They are demanding a ban of onion and tomato imports from Iran and Afghanistan as local onion and tomato crop is ready for harvest and sufficient enough to meet the local demand. Despite the bumper harvest, the government is allowing the imports of onion and tomato causing the prices to crash in the local market. It is expected that the protests will spread countrywide if the demands of the farmers are not accepted.

Sindh region in Pakistan is one of the major onion producing and exporting regions. It produces 45% of the total production in the country and the main onion exporting season starts in October and goes up to March. In November 2020, the onion growers and exporters of the region imposed a voluntary ban on onion exports hoping that it would protect the domestic market. The objective of the ban was to ensure stability in prices at the local level, besides getting a good price of onions for growers in the province for the forthcoming crop. However, as the new harvest came in the country, increasing imports from Iran and the decision of voluntary ban has put the farmers and exporters in a difficult situation leading to protests and hunger strikes. Most of these protests are in Hyderabad, Umerkot and Badin which are cities in the Sindh province.

Voluntary onion export ban and imports from Iran push down the prices

  • Onion growers and exporters voluntarily imposed a “self-ban” on the export of onions for 15 days starting from 3rd November 2020. The ban was imposed to reduce the domestic onion prices to sustainable levels and bring stability in the domestic market.
  • During this period, large quantities of onions were imported from Iran even though the production was sufficient to meet the domestic demand. A similar pattern was seen in tomato imports from Afghanistan during these months.
  • As a new bumper harvest of onions and tomatoes came into the market in December there was an excessive supply of onions and tomatoes.
  • The increased supply pushed the prices down to unsustainable levels. Pakistan could earn foreign exchange by exporting the produce during these months but instead, it imported onions and tomatoes from Iran and Afghanistan.

Source:Tridge, Onion Prices

Source:Tridge, Tomato Prices

Onion prices peaked in Pakistan on 2nd November 2020 to touch USD 0.38 per kg right after which the growers in Sindh imposed the voluntary self-ban on the export of onions to stabilize the domestic price. As new harvest came in from parts of Sindh and the government started importing prices from Iran and Afghanistan, the prices started to plummet. By the end of the year, the prices fell by 63% to touch USD 0.14 per kg.A similar situation was seen in the prices of tomatoes which peaked on 28th October 2020 to reach USD 0.77 per kg. The prices fell by approximately 60% by 4th January 2021 to touch USD 0.31 per kg which is an all-time low price recorded since the past 4 months.

Sindh Chamber of Agriculture scales up protests to ban imports

Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) is a lobby of farmer groups which is protesting to ban onion and tomato imports from Iran to protect the local market. The protest was also led by leaders of different growers and peasant organizations along with the SCA. Imports from Iran and Afghanistan are creating a surplus of the products in the domestic market of Pakistan. As the new bumper crop came in, the situation became more difficult as the excessive supply in the market kept pushing down the prices of the vegetables. The farmers are demanding the government fix the prices of vegetables to ensure price stability in the market for the farmers as well as the domestic consumer. It is expected that the protests will continue to grow if the government does not ban the imports or come up with a solution to support the farmers.

Sources

The Express Tribune. Farmers decry tomato, onion imports.

News Pakistan. Growers stage protest, hunger strike against import of vegetables.

The News. Traders end self-ban to restart onion exports.

UrduPoint. SCA Intimidates To Scale Up Protest Against Import Of Onion, Tomato.

Tridge. Price Charts.

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