Farmers of Sarlahi have complained that imports of tomatoes from India have hit them hard.

Tomato growers have been suffering from a loss in the production of tomatoes due to many factors, one key reason being the cold wave.

In terms of price, Indian tomatoes are cheaper than Nepali ones.

Due to unfavourable weather, the farmers have not been able to produce as many tomatoes this year. The reduction in production has also increased the market for Indian tomatoes.

Farmers say they are worried about the investment they made in tomatoes.

“I don’t think I will recover the cost this year,” said Surendra Mandal, a farmer of Hariwan Municipality, Atrauli.

Farmers in the northern part of the district are currently busy spraying pesticides to protect the tomato plants.

Mandal, who planted tomatoes on two bighas of land, said that despite spending a lot of money to protect the tomato plant from the cold wave, production may fall sharply. He said that he would not recover the investment this year.

"Due to the cold wave this year, we spent a lot of money to protect the tomato plant," he said.

Another farmer Arjun Mahato of Atrauli has also planted tomatoes on 2 bighas of land.

He said that at the beginning, tomatoes fetched Rs60 per kg.

The price then fell to Rs20 per kg after Indian tomatoes started entering Nepal massively, he said.

The price of tomatoes fluctuates, and the price declines with the increase in production.

“But at a time when production has declined, the price has also declined. This is due to the arrival of Indian tomatoes in the Nepali market,” Arjun Mahato.

“The Indian government provides heavy subsidies to its farmers and as a result farmers have a reduced investment cost. But in Nepal, the cost of production is very high.”

Madhav Giri, another tomato farmer, said that he was in trouble right from the beginning.

First, there was an increase in the price of fertilisers and seeds. Then everything went up—from tractor cost for ploughing the field and farm workers.

He said that they were forced to spend a lot of money on pesticides to protect tomatoes from the cold wave this year.

Giri has cultivated tomatoes on 5 bighas of land. "I have to spend a lot of money on fertiliser, seeds, tractors and pesticides to protect the crops from cold waves,” said Giri. “The price, on the other hand, is constantly falling."

“We normally receive good rates when the production drops but that’s not the case this year. The Indian tomatoes have flooded the market.”

Sarlahi leads tomato farming in the country with hundreds of farmers engaged in it. In the main season, more than 100 tonnes of tomato is produced daily.

Farmers said that decline in the price has impacted the livelihood of hundreds of farmers.

Most of the tomato produced in Sarlahi is supplied to Kathmandu.

Umesh Chaudhary, a trader, said that the price of Indian tomatoes is very low in the market.

“Due to the ongoing market competition, local production is getting less value.”

The price of tomato in Sarlahi is determined on the basis of the purchase price in Kathmandu, he said.

Chaudhary said that due to the sharp fall in the price of tomatoes in Kathmandu, the traders who purchased tomatoes at high prices in the Terai suffered losses.

Though the tomato produced in Sarlahi is tasty, consumers go for the comparatively cheaper Indian tomatoes, he said.