Farmers of Sarlahi, known as the town of tomato, are happy to get good price for tomatoes this year.
This is the main season of tomato production. Farmers are selling their produce by bringing it to the market.
According to the Agriculture Wholesale Market Management Committee, Lalbandi, tomato is being sold at Rs. 1,200 to Rs. 1,250 per crate in Lalbandi Wholesale Vegetable Market.
One crate contains 20 kgs of tomatoes. Farmers are now selling tomatoes at Rs. 48 per kg.
Last year, the farmers sold tomatoes at Rs. 10 per kg in the main season of production. Farmers are happy to get better price this year as compared to the previous year.
Farmer of Lalbandi Municipality-11, Hirapur Ram Udgar Mahato said that he is getting good price for tomatoes this year. “Last year, it was difficult to recover the production cost. This year, we are getting good price for tomatoes,” Mahato said.
He said that the farmers would earn significant profit from the production if the price remained buoyant.
Mahato said that he has sold tomatoes worth Rs. 50,000 since November and expected to earn up to Rs. 200,000 from tomatoes by February this year.
In Sarlahi, Lalbandi, Pattharkot, Hirapur, Raniganj, Sasapur, Nawalpur, Hariwan, Atrauli and other areas of the northern region, tomatoes are being cultivated commercially.
Tomato produced here is supplied from Sasapur, Lalbandi and Nawalpur markets to major cities of the country, including Kathmandu, Pokhara and Narayangadh, said the traders.
Toran Bahadur Magarati, vegetable trader and chairman of Agriculture Wholesale Market Management Committee, Lalbandi, said that the farmers are getting good price this year due to low production.
“Due to the off-season rains in October, the production of tomatoes has declined this year, so the price has gone up due to shortfall in production,” said Magarati.
Source : TRN,
