The price of tomatoes has nosedived in the uzhavar santhais and other open markets in the district for the past one week, thanks to the sudden spurt in the arrival of stock from the villages and also from the neighbouring districts.
The price of a kg of tomato stood at Rs. 5 and in the rural areas 3 kgs at Rs. 10 on Sunday, compared to Rs. 8 last week.
The price of tomatoes has come down in the markets in the city as well in the rural towns. The price has remained constant at Rs. 5 during the past few days.
A large number of farmers have raised tomatoes in Omalur and the surrounding villages of Theevattipatti, Nadupatti, Kanjanayakkanpatti, Kundukkal, Karuvalli, Thumbipadi, and Kaamalapuram, taking advantage of the abundant rainfall received in the months of July and August. The farmers of Sentharapatti, Kondayampalli, Koodamalai, Gangavalli, Nagiyampatti, Ulipuram near Thammampatti, too, had raised tomato crop in a large area.
The farmers preferred ‘sivan’. ‘sagar’, ‘US 800’ varieties. There was a spurt in the area under tomato this season, as it fetched a good price of Rs. 50 per kg during this period last year.
With the sudden spurt in the arrival of the stock, the price of tomato which remained at Rs. 300 – Rs. 350 per box weighing 28 kg last month, suddenly crashed to a price ranging between Rs. 80 and Rs. 100 last week.
A cross-section of the farmers of Danishpet, near Omalur, said that the farmers spent about Rs. 50,000 for raising the crop in an acre. In the initial period of the current season, the farmers reaped good profit by harvesting about 20 kg of tomatoes from 10 plants on alternate days. However, the sudden steep fall in the price has shocked the entire farming community of the district. Farmers complain that they are suffering huge loss and have called upon the government to come to their rescue.
The government should come forward to set up adequate cold storage facility so that the farmers could store the produce when they fetched poor price and market the same when there is good demand.
