Chittor, February 28: The prices of tomato which hovered between Rs 35 and Rs 40 in the month of January, fell by 70 percent in the first two weeks of February and dropped to rock bottom since the last three days.
Yesterday, they were no takers for it for even 25 paise per kilogram in Madanapalle market, the prime market for tomato, in the region. The tomato farmers were so distressed that they threw some of their produce on roads and resorted to rasta-roko at Madanapalle Market Yard.
For nearly an hour, they staged rasta-roko demanding the government for Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Tomato and said unless the government takes action, they will not even get their investment back.
Later in the evening, the prices recovered to some extent and when the reports last came, the market price was Rs 1.25 per kg. Since last three days, the tomato price in the vegetable markets across the district varied between Rs 3 and Rs 7.
When inquired into the issue, marketing officials at Madanapalle said there is great demand for Chittoor Tomato in Hyderabad, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra.
Earlier there was also demand in Karnataka, but with the farmers there taking up cultivation of tomato, the demand has come down.
Now with farmers in Tamil Nadu and Kerala also going for tomato cultivation and expecting harvest, the demand fell abruptly. Adding woes to the tomato farmers, bandh in Telangana region has denied the markets in that region. Maharashtra farmers too have started growing tomato and are importing it from Karnataka rather than from Chittoor.
“Earlier, there used to be middlemen problem and buyers syndicate, who used to manipulate the prices. Now it is not the case, to a large extent that menace has been eliminated. With the season nearing its end, the prices might again increase in few more days,” says Srinivasan of Madanapalle Market.
–Agencies