Farmers forced to dump tomatoes as price plunges

By Laxman Kafle,Kathmandu, June 11: Farmers of Panchkhal in Kavrepalanchowk are worried after not being able to sell tomatoes produced in their fields. Tomatoes in all the farms of the farmers have ripened.

This is the main season for the production of tomatoes in Panchkhal.

“Tomatoes are ripening in the field, but we are not able to pick because of not being able to sell,” said Ram Sharan Dahal, farmer of Panchkhal Municipality-3, Kavrepalanchowk.

He said that for a few days, the traders have asked him not to harvest tomatoes as the stock is piled up in the market due to the oversupply of tomatoes in Kathmandu Valley.

With the increasing supply of tomatoes, its price has dropped significantly.

Tomato is being sold for Rs. 200 per crate (25 kgs) in Panchkhal, the main commercial centre of the district. When a farmer sells a crate for Rs. 200, farmers get Rs. 8 per kilogram of tomato.

“Farmers are worried after the declining price of tomatoes in the market,” Raju Kafle, another farmer of Panchkhal Municipality-7, told The Rising Nepal. He said that even if the tomatoes are sold, the costs wouldn’t be covered from the sales.

A person gets Rs. 800-Rs. 1,000 a day for picking tomatoes, he said. He said that instead of selling a crate of tomatoes at a maximum of Rs. 200, it is better to compost it in the field and make fertiliser.

According to him, not only the investment, but also the expenses used for pesticides will not be covered from the sale of tomatoes this year as the price of tomatoes is too low, he said.

He said that the rate of tomatoes should be at least Rs. 20 to get profit by deducting the production cost.

The production of tomatoes was better this year than in the previous year, but the price declined by almost nine times this year compared to last year, he said. He said that tomatoes were sold at Rs. 80 per kilogram from the farm during this season last year.

According to him, about 15-20 carats of tomatoes were produced in a two-day interval from his tunnel.

Farmers said that even when tomatoes are unsold and have to be thrown away, federal and local governments do not pay any attention to the problems of farmers. 

“If the government does not provide any support to the farmers at a time when their produce is not sold, there is no point in encouraging the farmers in agriculture,” they said.

To protect the soil, farmers have started picking tomatoes and throwing them in the river nearby their fields.

According to the Kalimati Fruits and Vegetables Market Development Board (KFVMDB), the wholesale price of tomatoes, one of the essential vegetables, remained Rs. 10-15 per kilogram on Saturday.=However, the price of a kilogram of tomatoes is over Rs. 40 in retail vegetable shops in the valley at present.

Wholesaler of Kalimati market Bhagawan Chandra Upreti said that the price of tomatoes had declined in the market due to excess supply from the farms.

Excessive supply

Over 150 tonnes of tomatoes are being supplied only to Kalimati market on a daily basis over the last one month while around 60 tonnes of tomatoes used to enter the market daily in the same period a year ago.

Upreti said that the price of tomatoes outside the tunnel was less than Rs. 12 per kg in the wholesale market. However, the price of tunnel tomatoes is around Rs. 15-16 per kg wholesale.

“It is natural for vegetable prices to decrease in the market because of the imbalance of demand and supply situation. Price has gone down at the level of farmers at present,” he said.

Tomatoes are being mainly supplied from Kathmandu, Kavrepalanchowk, Dhading and Makwanpur districts.

Due to low prices, the import of tomatoes from India is almost nil at present, he claimed.

The supply of tomatoes even from Terai region to Kathmandu Valley is very low as there is no recovery even of the transportation cost, he said.

Upreti, however, said the price of other green vegetables, including okra, capsicum, beans, brinjal and cauliflower are slightly higher as compared to tomatoes price.

The price of capsicum is Rs. 50 per kg, local cauliflower Rs. 50 per kg, cucumber Rs. 45 per kg, beans Rs. 50 per kg and bitter gourd Rs. 40 per kg in the Kalimati wholesale market.