Tomato growers in Rajbari fear losses this year after failing to get the expected yield or price in the peak season. Yields have not reached even half of last year's. Farmers say they would have made at least some profit if market prices had risen a little.

In Rajbari, a district washed by the Padma, tomatoes are grown mostly on the chars and low-lying land along the river, above all in Sadar and Goalanda upazilas. This year rain damaged the tomato plants and yields collapsed. Growers did not get the expected yield even after using extra pesticide.

Growing tomatoes on one bigha costs a farmer about Tk 30,000 to Tk 35,000, including irrigation, land preparation, pesticide, seed and seedlings, and labour. On leased land the cost more than doubles. This year yields have been 100 to 150 maunds a bigha. Besides rotting, the tomatoes are small, so farmers are getting low prices. Tomatoes are now selling in the wholesale market at Tk 13 to Tk 17 a kg, or Tk 500 to Tk 700 a maund.

According to the district office of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), tomatoes have been grown on about 800 hectares in Rajbari this year, slightly more than last year, most of it in Sadar and Goalanda upazilas. High-yielding varieties grown in the district include Beautiful, Bipul Plus, Bigol and Mintu Super.

A visit to the Urakanda Gopalbari and Nayansukh areas of Barat in Sadar upazila found tomato fields stretching across the land, but without an adequate crop on the plants. The plants had also bent over to the ground, and the tomatoes on them were rotting and small. Farmers were throwing away rotten tomatoes and picking ripe ones into baskets. Women from the households were also picking alongside the men, sorting the tomatoes into baskets for market. From there the tomatoes are taken for sale to the district town and other districts.

Tomato grower Siddik Sheikh said he will lose a lot of money on this year's yield, which is half of last year's, and the market price is low too. "If farmers survive, the country survives. But nobody is checking on us," he said. If losses continue like this, he said, they will have to give up farming. They would make a little profit if tomatoes sold for Tk 25 to Tk 30 a kg.

Grower Bachhir said yields are low and on top of that the price does not cover costs. Early in the season he sold at over Tk 40 a kg, but now he has to sell below Tk 15.

Grower Mannan Sheikh said he grew tomatoes on five bighas this year. Rain at the start of the season destroyed most of the plants in his field. He later saved the plants with fertiliser and chemicals but did not get much of a crop. He is now selling tomatoes at Tk 500 to Tk 600 a maund and will not get even 150 maunds a bigha, whereas the same field yielded over 200 maunds last year. On one's own land the cost is Tk 30,000 to Tk 35,000 a bigha, and on leased land Tk 70,000 to Tk 75,000. "Yields are low, and on top of that prices are low. If market prices rose a little, we would survive," he said.

SM Sahid Nur Akbar, deputy director of the DAE in Rajbari, said tomatoes have been grown on about 800 hectares in the district this year, mostly in the riverside unions of Rajbari Sadar and Goalanda. Sub-assistant agriculture officers have regularly advised the growers, he said.

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