KURNOOL: Prices of tomatoes have crashed to as low as 50 paise per kg at Pattikonda and Alur wholesale markets of Kurnool district after a bumper harvest and low demand, leaving farmers in tears.
After transporting the produce to the market by incurring a huge cost, the farmers come to know that the prices have slumped a new low. Not knowing what to do — whether to sell the produce at the rates announced by the market yard authorities or take them back— many opted to dump the produce on the roadside.
Every year, farmers of Pattikonda and Alur cultivate tomato crop twice in thousands of hectares. This year, tomato crop was cultivated in nearly 18,000 hectares. It is said that every farmer invests Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 per acre to raise the crop. G Veeranna of Aspari village said he had grown tomato crop in 4 acres by investing Rs 1.2 lakh. After harvesting, the produce was transported to Pattikonda agriculture market in rented tractors. But the middlemen at the market said the prices have dipped to Rs 5 per 10 kg. “If I sell the produce at the rate fixed by the middlemen, then I cannot repay my debts,” he rued.
This is the second punch to them. Earlier, they faced the same situation during the sale of onions, he stated. The government should intervene in the matter and help them by fixing a support price of Rs 5 to Rs 9 per kg of tomatoes, he said. If the State government does not announce a support price immediately, then suicide is the only way left for us, he stated.
Farmers and Agriculture Labour association district president K Jaganatham said this is not the first time that tomato farmers are facing loss due to the price slump. It is a regular phenomenon every year. Despite many agitations for setting up of a juice factory to ensure better price to tomato farmers, the government is ignoring it, he stated. Horticulture officer A Raghunath Reddy said the tomato crop that is being cultivated is not suitable for extracting juice, so setting up of a juice factory in this area is not feasible.