For the first time in recent decades, the tomato price in the Madanapalle market, the largest in the drought-prone Rayalaseema region, stood at ₹60 per kg, giving moments of joy to the farmers. The price is expected to further go up in the next couple of weeks, even touching ₹100 in the open market.
During the last one week, the arrivals to the market remained fluctuating, but tending to be on the downward side. On Tuesday, the market received stocks to the tune of 293 metric tonnes, while it was 317 MT on Monday. In July 2016, the arrival was registered at 600 tonnes per day.
Now, half of the produce with first quality grade was exported to Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and New Delhi. The second variety was sold in the wholesale at ₹41 per kg, which in turn was priced at ₹60-80 in the regular vegetable markets. The price is expected to go up in the next couple of weeks, even touching ₹100 in the open market.
Farmers at the Madanapalle market had thrown away the produce in hundreds of tonnes daily when the price suddenly fell to ₹1 per kg in June 2015. Two years since the event, they have reason to smile. About 10,000 farmers depend on tomato crop in the western mandals, covering an acreage of about 30,000 hectares.
Deputy Director (Horticulture) Saraswathi told The Hindu that in February harvesting of the major part of the crop was done and there was a slump in the later months.
The crop suffered substantial damage in April and May due to sudden rains in the western mandals. “Though tomato farming is done in Madanapalle division throughout the year, this year, there prevailed a gap between February and June,” the official said. Agriculture Market Committee (AMC-Madanapalle) chairman Ratakonda Gurappa Naidu, an authority on tomato trading in the region since three decades, said for the first time the farmers were educated about the need for sustained farming, covering round the year. In the previous seasons, a farmer used to go in for tomato crop all over the field simultaneously. This used to result in bumper crop, resulting in no demand and plummeting prices. This crop year, the farmers divided the crop pattern into three categories.
“Each farmer maintained three slots of farming, avoiding bumper crops. The even distribution has led to a drastic fall in production, but it protected the economic interests of the farmers with healthy demand and moderate supply.”
Another reason for happiness of the domestic farmer here is that tomato growing has been halted in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh with the advent of summer, facilitating our farmers to export their produce to northern parts, Mr. Naidu said.
Meanwhile, the retail prices at the vegetable markets became a cause of big worry to the households. In Chittoor, the second quality produce was sold at ₹70-80 on Tuesday, and it was the same throughout the district. In Srikalahasti, the supply was truncated, and the households virtually went hunting for the “red gold”.
