Rs 200 to Rs 10: Tomato farmers' hopes crash

Two extremes in a span of two months have brought tomato farmers face-to-face with the cruel reality of market forces. In July, the kitchen staple hit an eye-popping Rs 200/kg in the retail market, prompting scores of farmers to switch to the crop while hotels and households shunned it. Currently, the fruit is being sold for Rs 10/kg, almost the cost of a tea, a see-sawing of fortunes that has left farmers shaking their heads in disbelief.

The price crash is being attributed by officials from the Horticultural Department and the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) to the arrival of a large quantity of tomatoes and fall in demand from other states. 

This month alone, the Kolar APMC, Asia’s second-largest tomato market, received 4.21 lakh quintals of tomatoes. In the same period last year, the APMC received 2.31 lakh quintals and it received 3.82 lakh quintals in September 2021.

This has had a cascading effect on the prices: a box of 15 kg of tomatoes that was sold at Rs 2,300 in July and August is now being sold at Rs 45 to Rs 120.

Farmers in Koppal, Chikkaballapur, Mandya, Tumakuru, Chitradurga, Haveri had taken up large-scale cultivation of tomatoes when prices went through the roof.

According to sources in the Horticulture Department, till September 1, the the fruit had been sown on nearly 32,323 ha of land.

But many farmers in Kolar and surrounding areas have decided not to harvest the yield as the labour cost of harvesting is higher than the returns in the market.

“By harvesting tomatoes on my 10 acres of land, I am only going to add to my losses,” Satish Hotur, a farmer from Chinthamani in Chikkaballapur. “I can harvest 20 to 28 boxes of tomatoes per day. The traders are quoting Rs 150 per box (max he can earn Rs 4,200), whereas the labour charges itself would come to Rs 3,000 to Rs 3,500. And then there are transport charges, traders commission and others. So, I have decided not to harvest the yield.”

This is apart from the cultivation costs.

Krishna Matapathi, a farmer in Koppal, blames the horticulture department for not warning them in advance.

“The department sold a large number of tomato seedlings in August. And many farmers, who earlier used to grow cotton or chilli, hoping for better yield shifted to tomatoes. Now, we are not even getting the returns on investment,” he said.

Koppal doubled its tomato cultivation area from 500 acres in April to 1,000 acres in July-August. Horticulture department officials claim they sold nearly two crore tomato seedlings in this period. 

But Siddalingeshwara, Senior Additional Director of Horticulture, informed DH that several teams were formed at taluk levels to caution farmers against expanding the cultivation area.

He said poor demand from other states has crashed prices, while there is excess supply in the local market.