Every year during the harvest season, large quantities of agricultural and horticultural crops enter local markets in Faryab. However, the lack of standard storage infrastructure has consistently caused a significant portion of these crops to spoil before reaching consumers. In these circumstances, the establishment of a 100-ton cold storage facility in Maimana, the capital of Faryab province, has raised hopes among orchard owners, who see it as a way to reduce post-harvest losses.
Muzaffar Baik, an orchard owner who has spent two decades of his life in the sector, says,
“A cold storage facility is something every province and district should have. When we harvest our crops, a lot of our crops spoil. If there is a cold storage facility, it will be very beneficial.”
Mohammad Aref, another orchard owner, recalling his experience of financial losses, says,
“We have been farming for 15 or 16 years. At one time, we planted 400 seers of potatoes and harvested 2,000 seers. When market prices fell, we suffered heavy losses. A cold storage facility would benefit farmers and orchard owners by allowing them to preserve their crops.”
Fruit sellers in Maimana believe that the absence of cold storage facilities has made the local market dependent on imported fruit. Hekmatullah, a fruit seller in Maimana, says,
“The lack of cold storage has forced us to import fruit from abroad. When fruit is imported from abroad, it becomes expensive, so we have no choice but to sell it at high prices, and many people cannot afford to buy it. If our province had cold storage facilities and we could preserve our own crops, fruit would become more affordable, and its quality would be far better than that of imported fruit.”
Ferdaws, another fruit seller in Maimana, says that cold storage facilities not only regulate fruit prices but also prevent fruit from spoiling.
“Of course, the absence of cold storage affects both the price and quality of fruit. If there is no cold storage, the fruit we need is imported from abroad, so we cannot make proper use of our own fruit,” he says.
Khal Mohammad Shaheen, an agricultural expert, emphasizes the economic importance of the project.
“Because of the lack of standard cold storage facilities and storage warehouses, an estimated 30 to 60 percent of Faryab’s agricultural and horticultural harvest spoils before reaching people. Establishing such cold storage facilities can have a positive impact on farmers’ incomes and the national economy. So, by regulating prices and gradually supplying crops to the market, we can ensure that 80 to 90 percent of our harvest reaches consumers. This, in turn, will have a significant positive impact on our economy,” he says.
Meanwhile, Jan Murad, director of the Faryab Department of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock, says this is only the beginning and that efforts are underway to establish a larger cold storage facility in the province next year.
“The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock is working to prevent the loss of farmers’ and orchard owners’ hard work. The purpose of establishing cold storage facilities is to ensure that farmers’ harvests are properly preserved and marketed at the right time and at fair prices. God willing, we will make the best possible use of this facility. We also hope that a larger cold storage facility will be approved next year, and in the years ahead, we hope to see more such facilities established,” he says.
Although the opening of the 100-ton cold storage facility in Maimana is widely regarded as a positive step, the large volume of agricultural harvests in Faryab means that there is still a need to expand the province’s cold storage facilities and establish additional centers. Expanding this infrastructure could help transform Faryab into a center for fruit production and distribution in northern Afghanistan.
Reporter: Yolduz Masror
