With the skyrocketing prices of daily use commodities already getting out of reach, the citizens are to likely to face another catastrophe in the form of acute shortage of fresh vegetables and fruits, as their supply from Thatta and Badin districts has drastically reduced due to recent heavy monsoon rains.
In next few days, shortage of milk is also anticipated because the road infrastructure has been severely damaged and a large number of livestock killed. Moreover, owners of the remaining herds have been displaced.
Businessmen connected with the milk supply business in the city told Pakistan Today that most of the tetra pack companies were getting milk from areas in Thar Desert; however, recent rains have badly affected the major roads due to which tanker trucks are unable to travel between Thar and processing plants.
Badin has been the worst-affected due to heavy downpours while major areas in Thatta, Mirpurkhas and Tharparkar districts have also been badly affected. According to official data, the Thar Desert is the hub of livestock with 5 million heads, which is 62 percent of the total livestock population in Sindh, and contributes a major part in milk, meat and leather, especially for major cities like Karachi. Most of packaged-milk companies, powdered-milk manufacturers, ice cream and other milk-product companies get milk from the Thar Desert.
Talking with Pakistan Today, most vendors at the new fruit and vegetable market were of the view that due to inundation of areas in Badin, Mirpurkhas and Thatta, vegetables and fruit supply from these districts will certainly be affected. They said a shortage of fruits and vegetables like watermelon, muskmelon, chikoo (sapodilla), banana, green chilli, ladyfinger, gourd, spinach, coriander and potato could soon hit the city.
They further said that prices are already high in Ramazan and if the supply is reduced, the prices may go even higher.
Vegetable wholesaler Mohammad Ismaluddin was also critical of the government’s lethargy in tackling the situation. “Whatever we have heard through newspapers and television channels, the conditions in these districts are very bad and if the government does not address the matter soon, the situation may aggravate,” he said.
Fruit wholesaler Salman Qureshi said that during Ramazan, the consumption of fruits increases and so does the prices. And in such conditions, if the supply is reduced, the situation will get even worse.
Same is the situation with milk vendors, as consumption of milk and its derived products like yogurt also increases in Ramazan.
“We get a major portion of milk from the local market but despite that a large chunk of milk comes from these districts. If tetra pack companies do not get enough milk, they will also increase their prices and we will suffer,” said a milk vender.
