The Nepal Weekly 
August 8, 2023
In less than two months after the farmers dumped truckloads of tomatoes on the road outside the Kalimati Vegetable and Fruits Market in Kathmandu after failing to get adequate price for their produce, the price of tomato has reached sky high. Tomato has been sold at Rs. 200 per kg now. A week ago its price was around Rs. 50. So, how can the price of tomato goes four times hight?
The tomato growers said they were forced to dump their produce because they were not able to get a fair price, and there was no way they could compete with cheap Indian tomatoes pouring into the market. Now the tomato prices has reached an all time high.
Tomato prices are currently at an all-time high. The wholesale price of the indispensable vegetable is Rs180 per kg while retail customers pay Rs220 per kg.
The price has soared not because tomatoes are in short supply in Nepal. There is plenty to go around. Nepali farmers grow tomatoes on 22,600 hectares and produce more than 432,000 tonnes annually, according to the Agriculture Ministry.
The scarcity is in India where prices have reached unreal heights. Tomato costs more than chicken down south. This has got Nepali traders scrambling to export tomatoes to India.
According to authorities at the vegetable market, Nepali traders are exporting tomatoes in massive quantities and causing supply shortage on the domestic front. The government should take appropriate measures to stop exporting tomatoes to India at this moment. Action should also be taken against black marketeers to provide justice to the customer. It is high time that the government should work in such a way that it could make people feel its presence.
