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Farmers in tears as tomato prices crash
Tomato growers in the district are in distress as prices have plummeted to as low as less than Rs 3 per kg due to a glut in arrivals of the crop. Several farmers in the district grow tomato as it had fetched good prices three months ago. But now the growers are finding it difficult to recover even the cost of inputs with the present prices in the market.
Nalgonda: Tomato growers in the district are in distress as prices have plummeted to as low as less than Rs 3 per kg due to a glut in arrivals of the crop. Several farmers in the district grow tomato as it had fetched good prices three months ago. But now the growers are finding it difficult to recover even the cost of inputs with the present prices in the market.
According to official figures, vegetable cultivation will be done in about 9,000 hectors, in which tomato crop will occupy 500 to 600 hectors of land. Normally the first harvest of tomato will come within three months and on average a farmer can get 25 tonnes of produce per hector, thus producing nearly 12,500 tonnes of tomato produce in the district.
And the produce would be more in winter due to favourable weather conditions which will cut its prices in the market. In addition to the crop produced in the district, huge quantity of tomatos from Madanapalle of Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh, also hits the markets in Nalgonda district.
The high and good produce of tomato crop in the horticulture farms around Hyderabad city is also one of the factors for the drastic fall of its prices. Presently, tomato is being sold at Rs 5 per kg in the local markets in the town, which is a record low. Speaking to The Hans India, Deputy Director of Horticulture Department Bandari Srinivas said it was a common phenomenon for the tomato prices to come down drastically in winter season as the market flooded with the arrivals.
But, its price would go up in the months of June, July and August as the low produce would create high demand for tomato in the market. He said that was no cold storage facility to vegetables in the market which makes inevitable for the farmers to sell their crop immediately after harvesting for whatever price available in the market. To avoid this, the farmers should take up mixed cultivation of vegetables that would financially benefit them, he suggested.
Telangana Rythu Sangham president Putta Janardhan Reddy requested the government introduction of Minimum Support Price (MSP) to vegetables also to save the farmers from finalcial losses during unfavourable times. He sought the government to provide four-wheeler vehicles to the farmers on subsidy to run mobile vegetables markets. The farm works of tomato crops should be linked with National Rural Employment Guarantee programme which would reduce the labour cost on the farmers, he suggested.
P Ramulu, a tomato grower, said that he got Rs 600 to Rs 1,500 for 25 kgs when the tomatoes were in great demand. ‘But now it is hard even to get Rs 60 to Rs 100 for 25 kg of tomatoes. We have to invest Rs 20,000 per acre and the sudden slash in the prices throwing us in financial loss,’ he lamented.
