Afghan pomegranate pickers jobless as fruits rot at shuttered border with Pakistan

Published October 14, 2021
In this file photo, a farmer sorts and packs pomegranates at a garden in Kandahar. — AFP
In this file photo, a farmer sorts and packs pomegranates at a garden in Kandahar. — AFP

Afghanistan's festive pomegranate season has begun, but this year thousands of tonnes of the juicy red fruit risk rotting on trucks blocked at the frequently shuttered border with Pakistan — leaving thousands of farm workers unemployed.

With its tart and crunchy, ruby-red seeds locked inside a leathery red rind, the pomegranate is renowned for its health benefits, and is one of the most important crops in the country's south.

But the fruit is ripening as Afghanistan finds itself engulfed in a multitude of crises that have metastasised since the Taliban seized control two months ago.

Read: Afghans fear for jobs and money after Taliban takeover

“We have 15,000 farm workers in this region who have been laid off because the trade has been paralysed and the fruit is rotting,” Haji Nani Agha, who heads the Fresh Fruits Union in Kandahar, told AFP.

In the shade of pomegranate shrubs, the melon-sized fruits fill burlap bags and crates being loaded onto trucks soon to head towards the Spin Boldak border with Pakistan.

But there their voyage comes to a halt.

Islamabad has cut sales tax on imported fruits to zero in a bid to boost trade from its neighbour, but also tightened controls on ordinary Afghans trying to cross over, fearing illegal entries.

It has caused a tug-of-war between Pakistani authorities and Afghanistan's new rulers, who have frequently closed the border in protest.

Exporters hoping to sell their wares have found themselves stuck for days and even weeks in scorching heat.

“It is a catastrophe for all of Afghanistan, because all of Afghan trade goes through this border,” Agha said.

Usually, between 40,000 and 50,000 tonnes are exported across this border to Pakistan, and also on to India and the Gulf states each year.

But so far, only 4,490 tonnes have left the country, according to Abdul Baqi Beena of the Chamber of Commerce in the southern city of Kandahar.

“These products are waiting to be sold, but the more they are delayed, the more their quality deteriorates and the more their sale value plummets,” he said.

Even before the dramatic power shift, Afghanistan's agriculture sector had been hard-hit by drought and intense fighting in a number of provinces.

For years, the previous Western-backed Afghan governments and international donors tried to convince farmers to give up farming poppies for illegal opium production and instead grow fruit — such as pomegranates.

Opinion

Editorial

Lurking militancy
Updated 23 Mar, 2023

Lurking militancy

Politicking on the issue of terrorism will only bring more harm to the country.
Disaster response
23 Mar, 2023

Disaster response

THE earthquake which struck Afghanistan and the northern parts of Pakistan late Tuesday, has come as a stark warning...
No interest
23 Mar, 2023

No interest

HOW high must promised returns be to encourage foreign investors to divert their dollars to Pakistan? Apparently,...
Vox populi
22 Mar, 2023

Vox populi

History will not judge kindly those who throw the laws of this land in the bin to keep just one man away from power.
Iraq’s wounds
22 Mar, 2023

Iraq’s wounds

TWO decades after the US military machine — aided by the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ — stormed into Iraq, ...
Mental health epidemic
22 Mar, 2023

Mental health epidemic

THERE are mounting stressors in the day-to-day existence of average Pakistanis. Rising inflation and unemployment...