Herat Gets First Major Cold Storage Facility Hayatullah.Rahimi Fri, 09/18/2026 - 04:05 Author Nasir Ahmad Salehi Profile Photo Author Short Bio Nasir Ahmad Salehi reports on security, politics, economy and social stories for TOLOnews. Author Job TOLOnews Reporter Business Local officials in Herat say a large, standard cold storage facility for preserving fruits, medicines and vegetables has been built in the province for the first time. The facility was built on 4,000 square meters of land at a cost of nearly $1.5 million and has the capacity to store 3,000 tons of fruits and medicines. Jamshid Kamal, head of the cold storage facility, said: “Our goal is to stay in contact with farmers. Even if a farmer brings one extra box of grapes to the facility, we will store it. We consider it our responsibility to preserve farmers’ produce.” Local officials say further efforts will be made to support farmers and orchard owners in the province. Herat Governor Sheikh Noor Ahmad Islamjar said: “I hope that in the near future, several more cold storage facilities will be built in Herat so that fruits can be preserved and later supplied to markets in Herat and other parts of Afghanistan.” Abdul Naser Amin, head of the Herat Chamber of Industries and Mines, said: “In the industrial park, we need 3,000 tons of tomatoes per day, and next year we will need 6,000 tons. That 6,000 tons is for just one day. We need cold storage facilities, and we need more of them.” Meanwhile, some orchard owners say one cold storage facility is not enough to preserve their fruits and vegetables. They say a large amount of their fresh produce spoils every year due to a lack of proper markets and cold storage facilities. Mohammad, an orchard owner, said: “We want support for farmers. If we sell each kilogram of fruit for 10 afghani, cold storage facilities should not charge us more than two afghani per kilogram for storage.” Another orchard owner, Mohammad Noor, said: “Our fruits and vegetables spoil every year. Last year, eight tons of my tomatoes spoiled. If there had been cold storage, our problem would have been solved.” The lack of large, standard cold storage facilities is considered one of the main challenges facing farmers and orchard owners in Herat. Farmers say they are forced to sell their produce at low prices during harvest season, while imported fruits enter the country at other times of the year and are sold at higher prices.
Source: TOLOnews · https://tolonews.com/pa/business-200879