Farmers call for ban on poultry smuggling into Afghanistan

Kabul [Afghanistan], November 7 : Local farmers in the Parwan province of Afghanistan called on the government to ban the smuggling of poultry as they complained of damage to business due to malpractice.
Saaduddin Hoshmand, the head of the Poultry Farmers Union, described the suffering of poultry farmers and lamented how the illegal import of hens from Pakistan had hurt their industry, Pajhwok news agency reported.
"If our chickens are not sold in time, we will suffer 150,000 afs losses per every thousand chickens," Hoshmand said.
He added that there were 150 poultry farms in Parwan province, with 150,000 chickens.
Pajhwok News Agency reported quoting Baryalai Bahadur, a poultry farmer who closed his farm due to smuggling from Pakistan, said: "As a result of local market downturns, I closed my farm in Tutumdara three months ago," adding that if illegal imports were not banned, the remaining farms in the country would have to be shut as well.
Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, the people in the country have been living a miserable life with no basic amenities and severe humanitarian crises.
The World Food Programme has also raised concerns about the economic crisis in Afghanistan and also the rising unemployment.
In the wake of an excessive surge in food insecurity in Afghanistan, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has provided aid to 38 per cent of Afghans to help them avoid the impact of the ongoing crisis.