JOIN USTomato prices crash; ryots close to tears
The prices have fallen from ` 120 - ` 150 to Rs five per crate within a span of less than a fortnight due to increased yield and the arrival of huge quantity of tomatoes from the region in the RMC here.
On Monday, many farmers who arrived with their produce returned home in despair due to huge fall in prices. If few farmers sold their produce to whatever the prices quoted, many others dumped tomatoes in the drain. The glut has sent even the RMC authorities surprised. “The farmers in Mysore, Mandya, Hassan and Chamarajanagar districts have grown tomatoes in large quantity. The decrease in demand from neighbouring states have also contributed to fall in prices,” sources in the RMC said.
While, the farmers were seen criticising the government for failing to extend a support during the price crisis. The Government should have announced a support price or atleast made efforts to divert the extra tomato stock to other places. The lack of cold storage facility had also hit the farmers hard. “The prices offered in the market do not even match to the transportation cost to bring the produce to market, leave the input and labour cost for growing tomatoes,” a farmer said.
Atleast now, the government should announce a support price or take immediate measures to mitigate the loss to the tomato growers. Meanwhile, though the prices saw a steep fall in the wholesale market, the tomato rates in retail market continued to be in the higher end. The tomato rates in the retail market hovered between Rs five and Rs six.