News Content

Pakistan blocks Afghanistan's fruit export efforts to replace opium

LUCRATIVE opium farming and ongoing border closures by Pakistan during the harvest season have derailed Afghanistan's plan to build up a healthy fruit export trade, restricted by poor air connectivity in the landlocked and a still warring nation.

The sight of hundreds of long-haul trucks stuck along border towns became all too common in 2016, with tonnes of fruits and perishable items going to waste and forcing some farmers to return to the more lucrative cultivation of the opium producing poppy.

"We invested huge sums of money on growing fresh fruits in our orchards," grape farmer Abdul Samad from Panjwai district in southern Kandahar told Agence France-Press.

In 2015 around 52,000 tonnes of pomegranates were exported to Pakistan, the UAE and India. Last year the exports dropped to 15,000 tonnes.

"We were ready and hoping to export up to 40,000 tonnes of grapes from Kandahar, but Pakistan closed the gate for 17 days, not allowing our traders to export their produce," head of the Afghan chamber of commerce in Kandahar, Nasrullah Zaheer, said in an AFP report.

Agriculture Minister Assadullah Zamir accused Pakistan of using border security as a pretext to sabotage Afghan exports and shield its own farmers from competition. "This is not the first time that border closures have happened. We had exactly the same issue in 2015 during harvest time," he said.

Delhi said they would launch an air cargo link between Afghanistan and India that would bypass Pakistan open new markets, but plans are in their initial stages, frustrating farmers.

In 2016, Afghanistan saw a 10 per cent jump in opium cultivation compared to the previous year because of bumper harvests, collapsing eradication efforts "Even if the government arrests us we are determined to grow poppy," asserts Kandahar farmer Abdul Shukoor. "Pakistan closes the border randomly and our government is doing nothing."