The price tag of tomatoes, which last week stood at Rs 60 per kg in vegetable markets of Rayalaseema districts, suddenly jumped to 100-plus on Saturday. The stocks are first and second grade varieties procured from Annamayya’s Madanapalle market; Palamaner and Punganur markets in Chittoor district.
The first class is making its way into supermarkets in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, New Delhi and other northern cities, where it costs around ₹150 per kg, thus sending shivering post the COVID pandemic across India.
The last time tomato prices crossed Rs 200 in South India coincided with cyclone Nivar in the last quarter of 2015 after devastating rains in November and December.
arrival
As per the latest trends in tomato business in Madanapalle, Asia’s largest tomato growing region, the total arrival of stock stood at 195 tonnes on Saturday as against over 300 tonnes on May 2.
The regular daily arrivals during this time in previous years were over 1,200 tonnes.
The wholesale price for Saturday in Madanapalle was fixed at ₹70 per kg for Class I and ₹39 for Class II. The increase in transportation cost due to rising fuel prices has directly affected the prices in the retail markets.
stay away productive
The main reason for this impasse is a strange incident, which forced more than 80% tomato growers to stay away from farming due to the COVID years.
“Due to the sharp fall in production since a fortnight, the price of tomatoes may even cross the ₹150- ₹200-kg mark last week till May. “The ongoing jatara (collective village festival) season elsewhere in Rayalaseema region will contribute to the rise in vegetable prices,” said Manjunath Kokkanti, a traditional tomato grower in Valmikipuram in Annamayya district.
The sowing of seeds for the fresh batch of tomatoes began a few days ago in Annamayya and Chittoor districts, followed by Kolar and Chintamani regions of Karnataka.
It is expected that farmers will be able to harvest the crop from last week of June or early July. Till then, the forecast of tomato prices looks troubling.
The growers, however, lamented that they did not get any guidance from the officials of the horticulture or marketing departments. He lamented that due to fear of COVID lockdown in 2020 and 2021, spread of Omicron and threat of fourth wave this year, cultivation in entire tomato belt in Madanapalle and adjoining areas came to a grinding halt in 2022 While less than 20% of the farmers took the risk.
Many growers expressed regret that when they suffered heavy losses when the price of tomatoes reached 5 or a kilograms and when they abandoned cattle and roadside crops in the past two years, the authorities never gave up on the idea of buying the stock. Extended.
As marketing executives are looking at buying stocks in the wholesale market and selling them in Rythu Bazaars, this will be done in moderation by the government as a tactic to deceive consumers and save face.
In fact, this would adversely affect the prospects of regular traders, and bring down prices in the wholesale market in no time, he observed.