Islamabad, April 29,2026: Acting President of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Tahir Ayub, has urged the concerned authorities to take proactive and preventive measures to ensure the smooth and uninterrupted supply of fruits and vegetable to markets in future.
He expressed these views while talking to a visiting delegation of the Islamabad Wholesale Fruit Market, led by its Patron-in-Chief Mohammad Arshad Chaudhry and Vice Chairman Malik Khizer, who called on him at the Chamber House to highlight challenges in the transportation and distribution of fresh produce.
Tahir Ayub emphasized that the ongoing season is critically important for the agriculture sector, as a wide variety of crops is also being harvested and any disruption in the supply chain can not only cause shortage of food, fruit and vegetable but could result in significant financial losses for farmers and wastage of produce as well.
He noted that the fruit and vegetable supply chain is highly sensitive and interconnected, involving farm labourers, growers, transporters, wholesalers, and retailers. Any bottleneck in the movement of goods not only affects farmers’ incomes but also disrupts the entire value chain, ultimately burdening consumers through price volatility,” he added.
The Acting President stressed that in future, timely transportation and efficient market access must be ensured through better planning and coordination. He underlined that avoidable hurdles such as transport restrictions, road blockages, and administrative delays should be effectively managed to guarantee seamless movement of goods.
The delegation informed the ICCI leadership that recent transportation delays and logistical inefficiencies caused spoilage of perishable items, increased operational costs, and led to shortages and higher prices for consumers. They urged authorities to adopt a more coordinated and forward-looking approach in future.
Tahir Ayub called upon relevant authorities, including district administrations and law enforcement agencies, to develop a coordinated mechanism with market stakeholders so that fruit-laden vehicles are given priority passage in future to prevent recurrence of such disruptions.
Others present on the occasion included ICCI Executive Members Malik Mohsin Khalid and Zulqurnain Abbasi along with representatives of the Wholesale Fruit Market, including Sohail Chaudhry, Majid Butt, Arslan Chaudhry, Chaudhry Sufyan, and others.
