SATV, Kathmandu, Mar. 26 - Unseasonal hailstorms accompanied by strong winds have caused widespread damage to tomato farming in Khayarmara area of Bardibas Municipality-10 in Mahottari district.
The hailstorm on Friday evening severely affected off-season tomato crops, a major source of income for farmers in Khayarmara and the Chure region, resulting in losses worth millions of rupees.
Bimal Shrestha, chairperson of the Arun Danda Farmers’ Group, which has 115 members, said that continuous rainfall over the past two days, along with Friday’s hailstorm, damaged up to 25 per cent of tomato crops spread across nearly 100 bighas of land in the Chure belt.
According to locals, around 300 farmers in Khayarmara are engaged in off-season tomato farming.
Shrestha said farmers have no option but to bear heavy losses due to the lack of concrete programmes to promote tomato farming and the absence of compensation mechanisms.
Local farmer Laxman Shrestha said that the average production in the area is around 800 crates (20,000 kg) of tomatoes per bigha. With a 25 per cent decline, total production is expected to fall by around 500,000 kg. At the current market rate of Rs 1,400 per crate, the estimated loss stands at around Rs. 2.8 million.
The hailstorm knocked off flowers and fruits from the plants and also flattened supported crops. Farmers had expected good returns from the off-season crop, which is planted in December and harvested between March and May. However, the damage caused by the disaster has left them worried.
According to the Agriculture Knowledge Centre, tomatoes are cultivated on around 2,600 hectares in Mahottari, with an annual production of about 39,000 metric tonnes. Off-season tomato farming is particularly concentrated in Khayarmara and the Chure region of Bardibas.
The storm, accompanied by hail and strong winds, has also caused significant damage to food and vegetable crops across the district. The Knowledge Centre reported that off-season tomato farming has been the worst affected.
Information Officer Abiral Kushwaha said that although the southern parts of the district did not experience hail, strong winds and rainfall caused heavy damage to wheat, maize and pulse crops.
He added that letters have been sent to agricultural branches of local governments across the district to collect detailed data on the losses.
