A mysterious vegetable disease has hit the bumper tomato crop at Lagor village under the Ganhi-Lagor panchayat in the Nurpur block known for producing hybrid tomato for years. Almost every tomato field at the village had been hit. This has caused disappointment among tomato growers. Twelve growers said many farmers had diversified from cereal crops to tomato and vegetable crops over a decade ago as those had been fetching remunerative prices. The hopes of over a dozen farmers on around 47 kanal had been dashed this year as the disease hit branches and a black scar appeared on each tomato when it started ripening and its colour started changing from green to red, after which it started rotting. Pritam Singh, Chain Singh, Rajinder, Rashpal, Basudev, Balbir and Gurbachan, who had suffered heavy losses, said they had procured hybrid tomato seed from the Mid-Himalayan Project. They admitted that they had not taken scientific guidance from the Regional Horticulture Research Centre (RHRC) at Jachh in Nurpur so far. They estimated their losses at between Rs 8 lakh and Rs 10 lakh. Former legislator Rakesh Pathania said the state government should swing into action in order to help the growers and ensure technical assistance to them. When contacted, RHRC Associate Director SS Rana said he had come to know of the disease from the media and he would send a team of scientists to the fields affected on Tuesday. “The centre will provide technical know-how and suggest remedial measures to the farmers after examining the disease-hit crops,” he added.