The glut in tomato and other horticultural produce has caused the prices to crash leaving the farmers in Mysuru and surrounding regions in a lurch.
The worst affected were tomato cultivators.
From a peak of Rs. 50 a kg last month the purchase price slid to Rs. 20 per kg and the farmers were being offered Rs. 2 or Rs. 3 per kg since the last two days by procurement agents.
As the farmers failed to get even the cost of cultivation for the produce, a large quantity of tomatoes was left dumped at the APMC yard in the city and were either left to rot or the cows had a field day feasting on them.
But it is not the tomato cultivators alone who are feeling the brunt of the market equation of supply and demand. The procurement price of cabbage which was Rs.15 per kg last month was down to Rs. 5 per kg on Friday while beans, which had a purchase price of Rs. 40 per kg, crashed to be sold at Rs. 8 per kg. R. Chandrappa, a wholesale dealer at the APMC yard in Mysuru, said that the bulk of tomatoes used to be procured by buyers in Maharashtra and other places for use in food processing units for preparation of jams or sauce but the demand was low since the last 30 days. “Consequently it has resulted in supply exceeding demand and the prices have crashed,” he said.
Tomato is widely cultivated in and around Mysuru but mainly in Jayapura hobli of Mysuru district besides H.D. Kote, Hullahalli, Yelwal, and K.R. Nagar while Nagamangala is another tomato growing centre according to Raitha Sangha leader Badagalapura Nagendra.
The crop is also cultivated in Gundlupet and surrounding areas but the farmers there are insulated from local glut in production and price crash as the bulk of their produce is sourced by traders in bordering Kerala.
“Failure to develop cold storage facilities for perishable commodities and lack of access to market in distant places due to poor connectivity besides absence of market information was hampering the farmers from getting a good price for their produce,” said Mr. Nagendra.
He and other farmers demanded support price for horticultural produce to help bail out the cultivators in times of crisis.
