Tomato farmers had a bumper crop but saw no profit. With the hot weather setting in, the plants are drying up and the tomatoes have begun to rot, and farmers have been forced to throw them onto a rubbish dump. This was the picture seen across Terokhada, a farming upazila of Khulna district.

Most people in the Terokhada area depend on farming and are busy all year growing rice, vegetables and other crops. Large amounts of vegetables are produced each season, and this winter tomatoes were grown on about 100 hectares. But those tomatoes never reached the divisional city of Khulna. Most were supplied to markets in Narail district, but farmers could not sell a large share even after holding it until the end of winter.

Every year farmers face this problem because the river makes it hard to carry produce from Terokhada directly to the wholesale markets in Khulna. At the same time, food companies that use tomatoes do not buy from the area, so farmers take losses every year. Tomato sauce companies bought tomatoes from all other parts of Khulna in winter, but not those grown in Terokhada. Many tomatoes rotted in the fields, and many farmers in frustration dumped them on the rubbish heap.

Local farmers said they have to throw tomatoes away at the end of every winter. Although ripe and unripe tomatoes are used to make sauce, chutney and other tomato products, the country's big commercial companies do not buy from this area, leaving local growers with losses.

According to the Terokhada upazila agriculture office, the upazila's six unions have about 15,000 hectares of arable land, where vegetables are grown in every season. In the 2024 winter season tomatoes were grown on about 100 hectares, and farmers harvested about 20 tonnes a hectare.

Jatindra Bagchi, a farmer in Chhagladah union, said he grows vegetables and tomatoes on 2 bighas of his own land. For the past three years he has grown tomatoes alongside other vegetables using modern methods on the agriculture office's advice, and has had bumper crops. This year the crop was again very good but selling it was a struggle. His 2 bighas yielded about 300 kg, but at the end of winter he could not sell even at Tk 2 a kg.

Karimul, a farmer in Barasat union, said: "There was a huge tomato crop this winter, but we could not make a profit selling it. Taking vegetables to the wholesale markets in Khulna costs a lot, and the traders don't want to buy at that price. No officers from the big sauce companies come to this area. If they came directly, they could buy tomatoes much cheaper, and we would not have had to throw them away."

Terokhada upazila agriculture officer Shiuli Majumder said: "A lot of vegetables are grown in this area. This time farmers succeeded with tomatoes, but sales were low compared with the harvest, so farmers are somewhat disappointed. If new outlets for selling tomatoes can be created, farmers will be able to make a profit."

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