Abadgar Itehad Call For Province Wide Protests Against Import Of Tomatoes, Onions

HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Jan, 2021 ) :The Sindh Abadgar Ittehad, a farmers' lobbying group, has given a call for starting province wide protests against the import of tomatoes and onions on January 14.

At a meeting of the group here on Saturday, chaired by its President Nawaz Zubair Talpur, the farmers appealed Chief Justice of Pakistan to take notice of the imports which had been causing financial losses to Sindh's growers.

The farmers said Sindh began to produce bumper crops of tomatoes and onions from early December, 2020, but the government did not stop the imports from Iran and Afghanistan.

They maintained that the import had led a drop in the price of the local tomatoes and onions and the farmers had been unable to recover the cost of cultivation of the 2 crops.

They said they had time and again presented their case to the government with an appeal to immediately ban the imports but their concerns had been brushed aside.

The farmers claimed that the local production was sufficient to not only meet the country's needs but also to keep the prices low.

The Ittehad claimed that Iran was exporting tomatoes to Pakistan after importing the same crop from India.

The meeting also deplored that the sugar mills were not complying with the Supreme Court's order about payment of arrears to the sugarcane growers.

The farmers expressed concern over beginning of the tax collection from those growers whose areas were declared calamity hit after torrential monsoon rains in 2020.

The Ittehad drew the Sindh government's attention towards the shortageof the irrigation water and urged it to address the same.