The coastal district of Bagerhat has had a bumper crop of tomatoes, a nutritious vegetable. The harvest should have pleased the district's tomato growers, but it has instead become a thorn in their side. In the wholesale market tomatoes are selling for Tk 2 to 3 a kg. The picture is the same everywhere in the district, including Chitalmari, Kachua and Mollahat.

With prices of everyday goods rising, the sale of tomatoes at just Tk 2 to 3 has caused anger and discontent among growers in the district.

In this situation, it is feared that 500 tonnes of tomatoes could rot in the fields in Bagerhat. The agriculture department, however, says prices have fallen because production exceeded the target and supply to the market is high.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Bagerhat, the district's target this year was to produce 40,700 tonnes of tomatoes on 1,850 hectares. In fact, 42,900 tonnes were produced on 1,950 hectares this year. Most of it was grown in Chitalmari, Kachua and Mollahat upazilas.

Farmers complain that tomatoes that sold for Tk 30 to 40 a kg a month ago are now selling for Tk 2 to 3 in the wholesale market. At these prices growers cannot even cover the cost of labour to pick the tomatoes, so maunds of them are rotting in the fields. Angry at not getting a fair price, many farmers are throwing their tomatoes into rivers and canals.

Liakat Hossain, a tomato trader at Bakhraganj bazar in Chitalmari upazila, said he has been growing and trading tomatoes for 15 years. "This year we have had a bumper tomato crop in Chitalmari. At first farmers and traders got good prices too. Tomato prices do fall a little at the end of the season, but I have never seen them this low in my whole trading life. How will farmers and traders survive selling at just Tk 2 or 3 a kg?"

He called for government cold storages for tomatoes to save farmers and traders.

Alamin Sheikh, a farmer in Gazalia union of Kachua upazila, said: "We mainly grow tomatoes on the dykes around our fish enclosures. This year I borrowed from various NGOs and people and invested nearly Tk 5 lakh, and so far I have sold tomatoes worth about Tk 4 lakh. There are still plenty of tomatoes in my field. For about 20 to 25 days tomatoes have been selling at just Tk 2 or 3, and at most Tk 4. I can't pick them because I can't even cover the workers' wages. I am forced to leave them in the field, and now they are rotting."

Faisal Ahmed, a farmer in Mollahat upazila, said: "This year I grew an early hybrid tomato variety. Along with a bumper harvest, I got good prices at first. But prices have now fallen so far that, with no fair price for picked tomatoes, I am forced to throw them into rivers and canals."

The agriculture department says, however, that farmers who grew early varieties got good prices at the start of the season.

Md Rafiqul Islam, deputy director of the DAE in Bagerhat, said most of the district's tomatoes are grown in Chitalmari, Kachua and Mollahat, with limited cultivation in other upazilas. The district had a bumper crop this year, several thousand tonnes above target.

He said the area under tomatoes and the number of growers in the district are rising every day. Towards the end of the season the plants are mature and the tomatoes ripen, so supply in the market exceeds demand. That is why prices fell suddenly, leaving farmers in some difficulty.

Rafiqul Islam added that the agriculture department is training farmers in vegetable marketing through Farmer Business Schools. "We are giving farmers hands-on training so that in future they know when and how to grow tomatoes to get both good production and the right price. We hope that through the Farmer Business Schools the district's vegetable growers will get a fair price for their produce."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.