Nepal ready to supply tomatoes to India, seeks easier market access
Kathmandu: Nepal is ready to export tomatoes to India in bulk on a long-term basis to quell the skyrocketing prices but has sought easy access to the market and other necessary facilities.
The neighbouring country’s assurance came after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told Parliament on Thursday that India has started importing tomatoes from Nepal amid a record-high spike in prices in the country. India is importing tomatoes for the first time due to high retail prices of around Rs 242 per kg amid supply disruptions caused by heavy rains.
Nepal is desirous to export vegetables, such as tomatoes, on a long-term basis to India, but for that India has to provide easy access to its market and other necessary facilities, Agriculture Ministry spokesperson Shabnam Shivakoti saidon Friday.
Though Nepal has already started exporting tomatoes to India through official channels a week ago, it is not in big quantities, she said. Arrangements are yet to be made for large-scale export of tomatoes, she added.
Echoing her voice, Binaya Shrestha, Deputy Director at Kalimati Fruits and Vegetable Market Development Board, said, “If we are provided with easy access to the Indian market, Nepal can export huge quantities of tomatoes to India.”
Tomatoes are grown in abundant quantities in the three districts of Kathmandu Valley — Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur — and it is more than sufficient to meet the local demand, he said. Some of the tomatoes grown in Kathmandu are being exported to the Indian market through unofficial channels, Shrestha admitted.
Some one-and-a-half months ago, farmers threw around 60,000 to 70,000 kg of tomatoes on the roads near Kalimati Fruits and Vegetable Market in Kathmandu after they failed to get a market for their products. At that time the farmers could not get even Rs 10 per kg of tomato in the wholesale market. However, one month ago, the market price of tomatoes increased by four times, after traders started exporting tomatoes to India through illegal channels causing shortages in the local market, market analysts said.
The tomato which was sold in the retail market for Rs 40-50 per kg soared to Rs 200 to 250 per kg, as farmers started selling tomatoes to the Indian market through unofficial channels, according to Badri Shrestha, one of the major growers and suppliers of tomatoes in Kathmandu.
During his recent visit to India in July, Agriculture Minister Beduram Bhushal held discussions on facilitating Nepalese agricultural products, including tomatoes, to India with his Indian counterpart Narendra Singh Tomar.
