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Farmers in Hyderabad city of Sindh province staged a demonstration on Sunday against Prime Minister Imran Khan's government for continuing the import of tomatoes.
The protesting farmers destroyed their ready-to-reap harvest as the import of tomatoes has downgraded the prices of locally-grown ones in Hyderabad, Geo News reported. According to the Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB), the federal government was informed about the situation one-and-a-half months ago but it did not stop the import process. As imported tomatoes continued to be supplied to the markets, the rates of local tomatoes drastically went down. According to SAB, farmers are selling tomatoes for prices ranging from Pakistani Rs 11 to Pakistani Rs 15 per kilogramme at the moment, and prices are predicted to be further downgraded to Pakistani Rs 5 per kg. Last week, the government of Sindh requested the centre to ban import of tomato and encourage export of onion to facilitate local growers and farmers of Sindh in particular. Sindh ranked first in the production of onion and tomatoes among all provinces of Pakistan. This year, the province managed to produce a bumper crop of onion and tomato and at present, harvesting is taking place in full swing. Due to the ongoing import of tomato and massive local production of onion, prices of both commodities in the local market have dropped drastically due to which farmers are not receiving proper revenue for their produce. Owing to low revenues, farmers have started protesting for the imposition of a ban on the import of tomatoes, according to the provincial government. (ANI)
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