RAJSHAHI, Jan 13: The price of tomato has decreased drastically in Rajshahi as tonnes of ripened tomato are waiting to be transported to Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and other places of the country. Due to continuous road blockade programmes of the opposition, tomato growers and wholesale traders are failing to send tomato outside Rajshahi.
Tomato producers in Rajshahi informed the truck fare has been increased more than double over the last one week. Apart from this, the wholesale traders and businessmen are unwilling to buy tomatoes for the risk of loss. As a result, tomatoes are simply rotting at the farmers' fields.
Farmers of Godagari which is the largest tomato producing upazila of Bangladesh informed they were unable to send tomatoes to Dhaka and other places because of blockade and hartals. They further informed, watching a bumper production of tomato, they were very hopeful so make a windfall profit by selling it this year but all went in vain because of the chaotic political situation.
Golam Rasul, a farmer of Pirizpur village of Godagari said, the price of tomato was Tk 360 per maund (40 klogrammes) last Sunday but it went down to Tk 120 within last three days.
Ziaur Rahman, another farmer of Mohshalbari village informed, if the blockade didn't take place, the price of tomato wouldn't fall like this during the current year. If such condition continues, farmers will incur heavy losses. He demanded help from the administration to let the trucks pass to its destinations.
Rabeya Bhuiya (40), a farmer from Sekherepara village, while sorting the rotten tomatoes from the ripen ones, said tomato is not being sold because of blockade and hundreds of tons of tomatoes were just rotting. She looked tense thinking that if the tomato is not sold, how will she pay back the loan she took from the NGO.
Shahjahan Ali, a tomato trader of Natore pointed out the reason of decreasing rate of tomatoes. He mentioned, the truck rent has increased from Tk 25,000 to 50,000 to 60,000. But the tomato market of Dhaka and Chittagong remained stable. They were compelled to hire a truck at a high because the tomatoes are going rotten. Yousuf Ali, a wholesaler of tomato at Mohishalbari informed, he was heading to Sylet with a truckload of ripen tomato. But in Natore, the picketers stopped the truck and detained them for three days. After three days of waiting, all tomatoes on the truck went rotten.
Official of Department of Agriculture, Rajshahi informed, tomato has been grown on almost 2,760 hectares of land in Godagari upazila alone. At least 70 maunds of tomato are produced on one bigha of land and farmers were expecting to sell tomato worth Tk 40 million from the upazila this year.
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Huge tomatoes rotting in Rajshahi as blockade stalls movement of trucks
Our Correspondent | Published: January 14, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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