June 19: Farmers are getting less than Rs 6 per kg for tomatoes, but consumers are buying them at an inflated price of Rs 40 per kg.

In a symbolic protest against this unnatural situation, farmers threw thousands of kilograms of tomatoes on the streets of Kathmandu on Sunday to draw the attention of the concerned authorities.

About 39,000 kgs of tomatoes were dumped on the road in front of the Kalimati Vegetable and Fruit Market on Sunday. Authorities had to use excavators to remove the tomatoes thrown on the street.

According to the Kalimati Vegetable and Fruit Market Development Committee, the wholesale price of tomatoes was fixed at Rs 6 per kg on Sunday. However, the traders of Kalimati complained that tomatoes, that were sold at Rs 40 to Rs 50 per kg a month ago, was not sold even at Rs 6 per kg on Sunday.

Stating that they did not get a fair price for the tomatoes, the traders og Kalimati called the farmers of Nagarjun, Kavre and Kathmandu Valley and threw the tomatoes on the road.

This is not the first incident in which agricultural produce has been thrown on the street to express dissatisfaction for not getting a fair price. Binay Shrestha, the spokesperson for the Kalimati Vegetable and Fruit Market Development Committee, says that the price of tomatoes has decreased in the market with the increase in production of tomatoes. "Our consumption has not increased but our production has increased," he said, adding, "Whoever ate a kilogram yesterday still eats a kilogram today. But the supply situation has become stronger, and this situation has been created.”

Shrestha says that the price of tomatoes has decreased rapidly since a week.

"The latest price is not even enough to meet the production cost of the farmers," he added. In the past, the production of tomatoes used to be low during the rainy season. But now, tomato production has increased due to tunnel farming in Nepal. Shrestha said that due to the increase in production, more tomatoes are entering the market than usual.

In the past, 60 to 70 tons of tomatoes used to be brought into Kalimati on a normal day. Now, with the increase in production due to tunnel farming, 90 to 95 tons of tomatoes are brought here on a daily basis. "Nowadays, tunnel cultivation is done not only in Kathmandu but also in the outer districts. In the past, the tomatoes produced in the tunnels of Kathmandu were also sold in the outer districts. Now the situation is different. Tomatoes are also being produced in the Terai. Although the production has increased, the consumption has not increased. It seems that the pain of the farmers not even getting the cost price is seen on the streets," said Shrestha.

Imports have decreased due to the increase in production. According to the Department of Customs, 39.88 million kilograms of tomatoes worth Rs 550 million have been imported in the 10 months of the current fiscal year. During the same period of last year, 43.52 million kgs of tomatoes worth Rs 582.6 million were imported in the country.

The National Potato, Vegetable and Spice Crop Development Center has confirmed that the production of tomatoes has increased. In the fiscal year 2073/74, tomatoes were produced in 21,562 hectares of land. A total of 401,577 metric tons of tomatoes were produced in that particular year. Tomato farming increased in FY 2078/79 and was done in 22,913 hectares of land. Production reached 435,584 metric tons.