KATHMANDU: Farmers are suffering huge losses as they struggle to find buyers for their tomato and cauliflower crops. They claim that their investments of tens of millions of rupees have gone to waste, with potatoes and cauliflowers drying up in farms due to a lack of buyers.
Lekh Nath Bhusal, a vegetable farmer of Chitwan, is disappointed that tomatoes and cauliflowers at his farm are not fetching fair prices. Last year, he sold tomatoes worth more than Rs 500,000. However, this year, tomatoes and cauliflowers are beginning to dry up due to a lack of buyers. “Until last week, buyers offered us as much as Rs 80 per kg for tomatoes. It is difficult to get even Rs 30 per kg now,” added.
Last month, tomato was selling for Rs 170 per kg.
The price of cauliflower has also dropped below Rs 20 per kg.
“The production cost of a kilogram of tomato is around Rs 20. The same is true for cauliflower,” Bhusal said. “But we are not able to recover even our investment. There is also no point in keeping these vegetables in cold storage.”
Dinesh Pandey, a farmer from Bhakundebesi in Kavre, said that vegetable farmers were suffering huge losses. “We are in trouble as domestic produce is not getting a good price and is rotting in the field,” he said. “The government should stop vegetable imports, as local produce is not getting a good price.”
Pandey said that local farmers will incur even bigger losses if the situation continues.
While local production can meet domestic demand in the flush season, vegetables from India continue to flood the market.
Binay Shrestha, information officer of the Kalimati Fruits and Vegetable Market Development Board, said that more than 50 tons of cauliflower and cabbage are being imported to the Kalimati market from India every day. “This has affected the market for domestic production,” he added.
Knowledgeable sources, however, said that Nepal, as a member of the WTO, cannot stop imports just because its domestic production has increased.
Manoj Lamsal, a vegetable producer from Dhading, said that farmers were suffering because the government still hasn’t stopped imports. “Farmers invest around Rs 200,000 annually. This includes the cost of pesticides, seeds, fertilizers, etc. A family spends 15 hours a day growing vegetables,” he said. “All this has gone for nothing this year.”
According to Shrestha, 75 tons of tomatoes entered the Kalimati market on Monday. A similar quantity of cauliflower also arrived at the market. This is comparatively lower than about a week ago when about 100 tons of tomatoes and cauliflower were entering the market.
“It is natural for prices to go down when there is more supply than demand,” Shrestha said. He expects the prices of tomatoes and cauliflower to drop further in the coming days.
The price of tomatoes and cauliflowers was Rs 25 per kg and Rs 20 per kg, respectively, in the wholesale market on Wednesday.
