Distraught farmers dump tomatoes

Shocked at the fall in the price, farmers from Halumandenahalli, Arishinagundi, Gokulanagar and surrounding villagers who brought their produce to the market, dumped the tomatoes at the Mahatma Gandhi Circle and marched in the streets, raising slogans against the government.

The distraught farmers said they would suffer losses selling their crop for such a low price. A group of farmers were very vocal.

“Whether the crop is harvested or left to rot, we will lose anyway,” said  Rangaswamy, speaking for his neighbours Rajappa, Charanraj, Krishnappa, Rangappa, Mudlappa and Manjunath. It would cost them a fortune to harvest the crop including wages for the labourers, transport cost and the tax levied by the town municipality which, while imposing a burden on them, did not bother to provide them with any facility, the farmers said.

“We invest around Rs 40,000 per acre and it pains to sell the crop for a pittance,” they said.

Rubbing salt on their wounds was the menace of middlemen and a callous town municipality.

They demanded that the government fix a rational price for tomato and set up cold storage units to preserve the perishable commodity.