Soldout ‘Modi tomato’ talk of the town this election season in Andhra Pradesh

Janardhan Chowdary Jampala and Racharla Siva Kumar Reddy have made these tomatoes in the shape of a heart with ‘Modi’ embossed on one of its sides and India’s map on its other.

‘Modi Tomato’ became popular when Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned in his constituency in Varanasi recently and they were sold out in no time. | Express

VIJAYAWADA: At a time when the country is in the grip of election fever, the ‘Modi tomato’ from Madanapalle is the latest sensation on social media. These tomatoes are in the shape of a heart with ‘Modi’ embossed on one of its sides and India’s map on its other.

This agro product is the result of combined efforts of Janardhan Chowdary Jampala, a US-returned software engineer-turned-agro producer, and Racharla Siva Kumar Reddy, an enterprising farmer from Madanapalle in Chittoor district. It was presented to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during his recent visit to Andhra Pradesh.

‘Modi tomato’ became popular when Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned in his constituency in Varanasi recently and they were sold out in no time.

In March, Kurnool-based JP Agro Producers, owned by Janardhan Chowdary, approached Siva Kumar Reddy, 38, owner of a five-acre land in Ponnetipallem hamlet, seeking help to grow the moulded tomato. “It was a novel concept and I was curious. As I firmly believe that success comes with risk, I agreed to grow this type of tomatoes in a half-acre land,” Siva Kumar told TNIE.

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JP Agro representatives brought with them 25,000 moulds and invested Rs 50,000 on labour. They encased the tomatoes at its fruiting stage. It then took three weeks to fully ripe. “They (the company) paid me 25 per cent more than the market price. At the time of harvesting, its market price was Rs 800 per crate of 25 kg, and I was paid Rs 1,050 per crate,” Siva Kumar explained.

Speaking to TNIE, Janardhan Chowdary said his firm had planned to do the same for leaders in both the Telugu states. However, it could not do so “as the timing was not right”. Eight months ago, Chowdary, who worked in the USA for two decades, had said he wanted to do farming, but in a ‘different style’.  

“The moulded vegetables with messages embossed on them can be sold as exotic items. The concept is now popular across the world. Now, we are making heart-shaped tomatoes with ‘I’ marked on one side and ‘U’ on the other. With Ramadan in the offing, we have focused our attention to crescent-shaped cucumbers with ‘Eid Mubarak’ embossed in English and Arabic,” he explained.