Rabi Mal, a farmer of Jolkul village in Hooghly district, approximately 90 km from Kolkata, is earning a little less than a rupee a kg on tomatoes this year.

Having spent nearly Rs 8 for producing one kg of tomato, Rabi is neck deep in losses. “Prices have dropped to less than Re 1 a kg; and even at this price we are not getting buyers,” he said.

Ironic it is, even while farmers are incurring heavy losses, retail consumer in Kolkata is shelling out Rs 12-15 a kg for tomatoes.

Tomato prices, which were ruling around Rs 5-6 a kg till about a fortnight ago, have sharply dipped in the last two weeks on an estimated overproduction and poor demand.

The drop is more significant compared with Rs 14-16 a kg, which the farmers were earning during November-December 2012.

“I have little option left but to cut down the plants as tomatoes have already become ripe and leaving them any further on trees will only spoil the crop. I will sell it for whatever price I get,” Rabi said.

Production

Tomato seeds in West Bengal are usually sown in the month of June-July and planting is done after 3-4 weeks of sowing. Maturity of tomato plants is achieved after 8-12 weeks of planting.

West Bengal produced nearly 11.04 lakh tonnes (lt) of tomatoes in 2011-12. The total area under cultivation was 55,225 hectares. The latest production figure for 2012-13 is not available.

The State accounts for almost seven per cent of the country’s total production, which stands close to 1.7 crore tonnes. Purulia, Nadia, Bankura and Burdwan are some of the key tomato growing districts in the State.

“A number of my friends have thrown away their tomatoes as they have no buyers. I have been selling my produce at a huge loss,” said Ajit Mir, another farmer in the Abhirampur village in Hooghly district.

Lack of storage options

In case of overproduction and weak demand, farmers are left with little option as there is hardly any storage facility for tomatoes in the State.

>shobha.roy@thehindu.co.in

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