“Shallots, onions and pepper were also lost to the floods to some extent”, he added.

Mr Agbove said the vegetables were at the fruiting stage when the floods set in.

He said the tomato season was over, but the remaining shallots and onions on the fields could be harvested in December.

However, he cautioned, there would be a shortfall in the harvests of onions, and that might lead to imports of the vegetable again from Burkina Faso and Niger.

“Meanwhile, the farmers, including a large number of women, were faced with huge income and job losses”, the District Director of Agriculture said.

Mr Agbove appealed to the government and non-governmental organisations in agriculture to come to the aid of the farmers with seeds and other inputs to enable them to continue with their farming.

Most of the farms already have surface pumps, sprinkler heads, and wells, he told this reporter.

Some of the farmers said they accessed loans to cultivate the crops, and it was heartbreaking for them to be in that situation now.

Anloga, known for the massive production of vegetables, is below sea level and susceptible to floods.