Tomato farmers vent frustrations on social media over produce prices

AMMAN — An expression of frustration with the current tomato pricing, on Thursday went viral on social media in a video showing farmers in the central market throwing their production of tomatoes in a garbage bin.

“Farmers are angry because the local production of tomato is abundant and of high quality, yet since the supply is higher than the demand, the product became sold at prices lower than the real cost,” Jordan Farmers Union’s Director General, Mahmoud Oran, told The Jordan Times on Tuesday.

He said that there is neither enough exporting activity to incubate the huge production surplus or a solid food industry sector that utilises the excess product.

“It is nonsense when Jordan imports several tomato products while we can use our local tomato to make local production,” Oran reiterated.

Jordan Exporters and Producers Association for Fruits and Vegetables vice president, Zuhair Jweihan, said that “if the sales continue with such losses, Jordanians may not [be able to] find tomato at all in the market”.

He said that farmers are bearing the burden of increased taxes and high operational expenses, yet are not even making enough money to cover their basic costs, let alone to make a profit.  

Jweihan rejected the allegation that circulated on some news’ websites that the thrown tomato was not fit for human consumption, saying that the Jordanian production of fruits and vegetables is well known for its high quality.

Although exporting the surplus output was suggested as a possible solution, Jweihan and Omran agreed that strong competition from other tomato producing countries, and high shipping costs constitute a major challenge for farmers.

The video triggered a wave of anger among social media users who criticised throwing the fresh tomato in the garbage at a time when others are “hungry and looking for food”.

Several comments described the action as “disrespectful”, suggesting that these extra amounts could have been donated to the needy and the poor.