Prices of vegetables have been exceptionally low this winter season; however, this is not a new occurrence as farmers face this reduction every three to four years. The reasons for this drastic slump includes surplus production, non-existent processing and supply chain infrastructure, closure of the Afghan border for trade, and a lack of guidance for growers for the cultivation of certain crops.
As of late, farmers growing tomatoes regularly in Sindh or potatoes in Punjab, in particular, have gone through a difficult phase as they were not even able to recover their cost of production. Dr Nazeer Shah faced a terrible situation, price-wise, in tomatoes’ harvest in Sindh’s Thatta district. Similarly, Pakistan Kissan Ittehad’s Khalid Mehmood Khokhar shared an identical ordeal in Lahore with potatoes.
“I have sent a consignment of tomatoes to Islamabad [instead of Karachi] after hearing of better price prospects in early January because locally we were hardly getting Rs10 per kilo of tomato, which was in no way economical for us,” said Dr Shah, who grows tomatoes in phases over 12-15 acres.
He was of the view that farmers cultivate certain crops in isolation without any guidance at all. “Some time ago, we had heard of Suparco planning to share satellite-based information for farmers to guide them on what crop they may cultivate. But nothing has happened since then,” he said.
‘There are no cold storages for preserving vegetables; that’s why we’re not able to export them to China despite our bilateral trade agreement’
Arthees like Faiz Bhutto in Hyderabad’s vegetable markets pointed out that tomato was being sold for Rs12–15 per kg in December’s third and last weeks. “It was even sold for Rs6–7 per kg,” said Mr Bhutto, assuming that since trade with Afghanistan remained closed, the glut was being experienced in vegetable markets.
Not only tomato but potato, onion and peas were facing the same price-wise situation. Fears were that okra cultivated lately and ready for harvesting might not perform better in the market if this situation persisted. Its harvesting has started. Tomato is largely grown in Sindh and is an essential kitchen item, along with potato and onion.
Onion, on the other hand, was also hit by disease in Sindh whilst research authorities looked the other way, thus undermining its value further and inviting the ire of farmers. A vehicle laden with 122 bags of 120kg of onion each was sold for Rs0.3m in the market this year, according to Mr Bhutto, compared with last year’s price of Rs0.6–0.7m of the same commodity.
Tomato completes a 90- to 100-day cycle from cultivation to harvest. It is grown in different regions of lower Sindh, thus its supplies kept reaching the market. Likewise, another tomato grower from Hyderabad, Aslam Marri pointed out that the prices have fallen so low for tomatoes that farmers even find picking burdensome due to the added labour cost. So, crops are left unattended only to be ploughed into the land.
“When areas of Badin and Mirpurkhas districts were harvesting tomatoes, produce began arriving from Chambar (Tando Allahyar district), Tando Ghulam Ali (Badin district) and Tando Mohammad Khan district, causing a drop in the prices,” he said.
Growers believe that experience in the last two years in major crops contributed to this situation to some extent. In terms of returns in major crops like wheat, cotton and sugarcane, growers have been crying hoarse since 2024 when they sold wheat for a price as low as Rs2,200 to Rs2,300 per 40kg, followed by lower prices in the cotton crop, where their expectations were not met either.
“Farmers have shown a tendency to grow mustard — a parallel crop of wheat — in winter. Small farmers, by and large, grow vegetables. But in view of their experience in wheat, cotton and sugarcane, they also opted for cultivating vegetables, so supplies of veggies doubled in the market,” Imran Bozdar, a farmer from Sanghar, said.
Furthermore, in the absence of processing infrastructure, these crops end up suffering regularly after every couple of years. In Hyderabad, only a few cold storages were set up by investors who face uninterrupted electricity supply issues.
“Hardly, 5–7 per cent vegetables are processed. Only a smaller quantity is exported by air for the Pakistani diaspora,” said Mahmood Nawaz Shah, president of the Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB). With surplus production, prices drop understandably. “There are no cold storages for preserving vegetables, and that’s why we are not able to export them to China despite our bilateral trade agreement,” he said.
Mr Khokhar opined there was a sheer glut in the potato market as Punjab’s Sahiwal division, with its three districts, produces 890pc of Pakistan’s potatoes. Its production has increased from 9m tonnes last year to 12m tonnes this year. “We had carryovers from last year’s potato crop involving a price of Rs2,000–2,500 per 62kg potato bag. Now it was being sold for Rs200 per bag. A new variety of crop gives more yields per acre. In 1988, the government had intervened to avoid farmers’ losses. Trade via Iran was allowed, but its freight was higher, thus unviable for us,” he said.
A recent Asian Development Bank study titled ‘Dysfunctional Horticulture Value Chain and Need for Modern Marketing Infrastructure: The Case of Pakistan’ mentioned that fruits and vegetables were packaged using local materials before shipment. In most cases, such packaging fails to preserve the freshness and quality of products. Absence of cooling and packaging centres and inadequate cold storage facilities is another problem in preserving produce at or near wholesale markets.
It said that over 555 cold storage units were identified in Pakistan with about 0.9m metric tonnes of storage capacity, against more than 15m MT of production of fruits and vegetables. There are no available cooling and packaging houses or cold storage facilities close to the farms that can be used by the producers. It commented that production of potato, onion and tomato suffers from setbacks every three to four years. Usually, two or three good harvests were followed by a bad harvest.
Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, January 19th, 2026
