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
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.