Northern farmers on Wednesday staged a protest by dumping tomatoes on the Rajshahi-Dhaka Highway in Natore, demanding withdrawal of the increased value added tax and duty imposed on tomato and mango pulp.
Several hundred of them from Rajshahi, Natore, and Chapainawabganj districts blocked the highway in the Belgharia Bypass area, bringing the traffic on the highway to a standstill for half an hour.
The agitating farmers said that the government had recently increased VAT on processed pulp from 5 per cent to 15 per cent for tomatoes, mangoes, and other fruits, leading processing companies to abruptly stop purchasing tomatoes from farmers.
鈥楢s the processing companies stop purchasing tomatoes, we 鈥� the growers 鈥� cannot sell our tomatoes, causing the seasonal crop to rot in the fields,鈥� said Iftikhar Alam Munna, a tomato farmer from Godagari upazila in Rajshahi.
He said that the government decision to increase VAT on tomato and mango pulp would negatively impact marginal farmers as the price of tomatoes decreased to Tk 3-5 per kilogramme on local markets.
Another farmer, Md Babu of Natore Sadar upazila, said that tomato growers would incur a huge loss this season as they would not be able to cover the half of their production cost due to drop in prices of the crop.
Participating in the protest, trader Saddam Hossain said that the VAT increase would reduce consumer demand and harm small and medium enterprises in the sector.
鈥楻ising electricity and gas prices, along with currency market instability, have already put immense pressure on the agricultural processing sector. If the VAT hike continues, it will become even harder for lower- and middle-income families to afford food products,鈥� he said.
The speakers urged the government to withdraw the increased VAT on the processed pulp, and threatened that they would go for a tougher movement if the government failed to meet their demand.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, tomatoes have been cultivated on 5,360 hectres of land this season in the Rajshahi region, comprising Rajshahi, Natore, Naogaon and Chapainawabganj districts.
