Sindh urges federal govt to ban tomatoe import

The Sindh government has written a letter to the federal government to ban the import of tomatoes and take steps for the export of onions.

As per media reports, the province has written a letter to the federal government, under which the Sindh Agriculture Minister Muhammad Ismail Rahu has said that Sindh province is number one in the production of onion and tomato crops in the country this year. Harvesting of onion and tomato crops has started across the province, and the province is expected to produce very good onions and tomatoes crop this year.

Due to import of tomatoes and non-export of onions, the prices of these commodities have come down sharply, so farmers are not getting a fair price for their produce, stated the letter.

In his letter, the provincial minister said that last year onion was cultivated on an area of 57,900 hectares, which has produced 782,140 metric tons, while this year onion was cultivated on 58,200 hectares. Similarly, tomatoes were cultivated on 22,542 hectares last year, producing 1,64,658 metric tonnes of tomatoes. This year's tomato crop has been planted on 30,000 hectares.

Rahu has urged the government to take necessary steps to ban the import of tomatoes while the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Food Security should allow the export of onions.