ISLAMABAD : Balochistan’s Local landowners and farmers are facing mounting financial losses due to the large-scale smuggling of tomatoes and other agricultural commodities from Iran and Afghanistan, stakeholders have said.
According to affected landowners, the influx of illegally imported produce is severely undermining local agricultural production, causing prices to crash and leaving farmers unable to recover their cultivation costs. The situation, they warned, has pushed many agrarian families to the brink.
“Locally grown crops, particularly tomatoes, are being sold at distressingly low rates because of the glut of smuggled goods,” a farmer from Balochistan told this correspondent. “Our production costs have not decreased, but our earnings have plummeted. This is destroying our livelihoods.”
The farmers have called upon the federal government to take immediate and effective measures at all border crossings to curb the illegal flow of these commodities. They emphasized the need for stringent monitoring and enforcement to protect the interests of domestic producers.
“Smuggling is not only an economic crime but also a direct attack on our food security and rural economy,” another landowner said. “We urge the authorities to seal illegal routes and ensure that only regulated, legal trade takes
place.”
