Cultivation of the vegetable is increasing in the district but farmers are becoming disheartened as there is no facility to preserve and sell the perishable commodity, according to farmers and Dinajpur Agriculture Extension Department (AED) officials.

Tomato grown in Dinajpur has already drawn attention of traders from different districts but they face transportation problems, farmers said. Tomato produced in Dinajpur meets around 40 per cent of the country's demand, AED officials said.

Several wholesale tomato markets have sprang up at Sheikhpura in Dinajpur Sadar upazila, from where it is supplied to Dhaka, Rajshahi, Natore, Netrokona, Sylhet, Noakhali and some southern districts, traders said.

Around 100 tracks carry tomato from Dinajpur to other districts every day, they said.

The AED officials said around 9888 acres were brought under tomato cultivation in Dinajpur this year with a production target of 35 lakh maunds. The production exceeded the target, they said.

While visiting some wholesale markets, this correspondent found growers selling tomato at Tk 50 to Tk 120 per mound.

Last year, the price was Tk 750 to Tk 1000, traders and farmers said.

This year, the yield was far better with 350 to 400 maunds per acre, farmers said.

Tomato grower Radhesh Chandray Roy from Uttar Gobindrapur village in Dinajpur Sadar upazila said, this year he earned a profit of only Tk 2,000 from 27 maunds against Tk 27,000 from 21 maunds last year.

Several hundred maunds of tomato were seen piled up in the wholesale markets. The rotten tomatoes were also polluting the environment.

Farmer Bipul Sarker of Sheikhpura union said Tk 28,000 to Tk 30,000 was spent to produce tomato in one acre this year, which was higher than last year's.