Grape growers in Afghanistan’s Koh Daman area say falling prices have left them selling their harvest below production costs, with some turning grapes into raisins only to find those also lack buyers. Limited access to overseas markets and a shortage of cold storage have further narrowed their options.
560 kilograms sold for 4,000 afghanis
Gul Ahmad, an orchard owner in Kabul’s Farza district, told Afghan media that he had been forced to sell his entire 560-kilogram grape harvest to traders for just 4,000 afghanis. He said the payment fell far short of the money he had spent tending the orchard.
At the beginning of the year, Ahmad hired daily-wage workers, bought fertiliser and spent about 400,000 afghanis digging a deep well to address water shortages. When the grapes were ready, he said, leaving them unsold would have meant allowing them to rot.
Storage and market access constrain growers
Ahmad said cold-storage facilities were scarce and expensive to use, adding that there was not a single functioning facility across Koh Daman. Other growers in the area have also voiced concern about the lack of storage and restricted access to international markets.
According to Afghan media, economic experts warned that inadequate cold storage and the inability to reach overseas markets had sharply restricted opportunities to sell produce. They said growers’ incomes had consequently fallen significantly in Koh Daman and other parts of Afghanistan.
Ahmad recalled receiving between 20,000 and 30,000 afghanis for the same 560-kilogram quantity when trade routes with Pakistan were open. He said the current combination of low prices and limited market access had left him and fellow growers facing severe financial hardship.
Raisins offer no relief
Another Koh Daman resident told Afghan media that financial pressures included Taliban taxes on grapes passing through Khair Khana Pass. The resident described the charges as:
- 30 rupees for each sack of grapes passing through the route.
- A separate charge of 50 rupees collected from the grower.
The resident said growers had resorted to drying grapes into raisins because of their difficulties selling the fresh fruit. But even that alternative had failed to bring relief, with no buyers available for the raisins either.
