LOWER DIR: The tomato growers in Talash are reaping windfall profits from selling their produce in the market due to the ever-increasing price of the commodity.

Talking to Dawn, they said they could even earn more profits if the government brought down the prices of agriculture inputs, including seed, fertiliser and pesticides.

Rafiq Khan, a farmer from Dheri Talash village, said he was worried after he had spent Rs250,000 on digging a well in January, but his healthy tomato crop earned him Rs750,000. He said he had grown the crop only on two kanals of land near his house.

Amir Mohammad from Banrgi village said all the farmers who had grown tomato were earning attractive profits. He said tomatoes had been selling in fruit markets from Rs100 to Rs 150 since March this year.

Ameer Mohammad, a vegetable dealer from Ziarat Talash, said tomatoes were being dispatched from Talash to other districts. He said the growers plucked tomatoes from plants a bit early to protect them from frost bite.

He said tomato rate had slightly come down after arrival of the Iranian tomato in the market.

Grower Naqeeb said he had sold his whole tomato farm to a dealer at Rs1.2 million in September. He said he had grown tomato on six kanals of land.

Majority of fruit and vegetable growers in Talash irrigate their farms through tubewells, either run on electricity or solar power.

ROBBERY PROTESTED: The Adenzai political activists have demanded of the provincial police chief and the district administration to ensure arrest of the persons involved in a robbery incident in the area.

The demand was made during a protest demonstration in Gaddar area of Adenzai the other day.

Former provincial minister Bakht Baidar Khan, ANP’s provincial vice-president Hussain Shah Youafzai, JI’s Sultanat Yar Bukhari, Anjuman-i-Tajaran Chakdara president Khwaja Faizul Ghafoor and others condemned the robbery incident in Gaddar.

They said armed men entered the house of a local resident, held the inmates at gunpoint and decamped with five tola gold ornaments, Rs500,000 and other valuables.

The speakers demanded of the police high ups to arrest the culprits within three days, or they would come onto the roads.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2020