Farmers worried over the low price of tomatoes

Farmers in Rangpur region are worried because the market price is not good during the main season of tomatoes.

Local sources said the farmers in the region failed to get their expected benefit from vegetable farming despite huge production.

Experts, growers, and traders at wholesale markets also said the farmers have been deprived of a reasonable piece of the crop and benefit due to the absence of storing facilities and proper marketing of the vegetable.

According to the Rangpur DAE sources, some 5,549 hectares of land were brought under tomato farming targeting to produce 168,695 tonnes in eight districts of the region.

Farmer Abdul Alim of Ranipukur union under Mithapukur upazila, the largest vegetable production area of the district said they used to cultivate potatoes on his land regularly. The farmers usually get a reasonable price at the very beginning of the season, later the price declines gradually with the availability of the crop in the market.

The farmers feel reluctant to bring the crop to the market due to price falls. Moreover, tomato is a rapid waste vegetable that could not be stored and sold. Thus the farmers use the waste product as fertiliser in the field. The farmers can be benefitted largely if there are any storage facilities for the vegetable.

The tomato growers in the district have long been demanding that the government set up a cold storage plant, he added

The largest wholesale tomato market of Rangpur region is in Gabura, Panchbari, Janatamor and Kawgaon villages in Sadar upazila under Dinajpur district.

Traders from different districts including Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet and Barishal regions, visit the wholesale market to buy the vegetable. Trading starts early in the morning every day and continues till noon, traders said.

Harvesting of the summer vegetable starts in early April and continues till mid-May, farmers said.

A farmer cum trader Al Amin of Gabura village under Sadar upazila of Dinajpur district said tomato is being sold at Gaburahat from April 1- May. About 50-60 trucks are loaded with tomatoes in the market every day and transported elsewhere in the country.

Per tonne of tomato is being sold at Tk 12- 13 thousand at the beginning of the season, later the price falls below Tk 4 per kg with huge import in the market. If the product is stored and processed in time, the farmers could benefit.

He cultivated summer tomatoes on two bighas of land spending Tk 70,000 and got around 520 maunds. He got Tk 1.04 lakh by selling it at Tk 4 per kg. He had hardly any profit considering the harvesting and transportation cost.

Abdur Rahman of the same upazila said he had left his tomatoes on the field l to avoid loss due to the price fall in the markets.

Nikhil Chandra De, tomato storage, processing and marketing development project director of Rangpur division said, the government has planned to set up several cold storages in the region to promote the farming and trading of the crop.

Rangpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Mostafa Sohrab Chowdhury Titu urged the government and private entrepreneurs to set up cold storage and processing plants for vegetables in the region.