ANANTAPUR: In a major worry for Anantapur farmers, tomato prices have tumbled. As there are no takers for the vegetable in markets and prices offered are not even sufficient to cover the labour cost of harvesting and transportation, frustrated tomato growers are leaving the crop to rot in the fields.
The farmers have hoped to recoup some of the losses they suffered due to the Nivar Cyclone in November, but low price for tomatoes has dashed their hopes.
The crop is cultivated in around 4,000 hectares in the district and today it is being sold anywhere between 80 paise to Rs 1.30 a kg.
It costs Rs 8,400 per acre for labour charges to harvest tomatoes, but a farmer will get only Rs 5,000 by selling his produce in an acre.
In other words, a farmer will not even get back the labour cost of harvesting. So many farmers are not even ready to harvest the crop.
armers said that to harvest tomatoes, a farmhand has to be paid Rs 250, and per acre, the cost of picking up the fruit and packing comes to around Rs 2,900.
Transporting a box of 15 kg tomatoes costs Rs 16 and when rent, box cost and loading and unloading charges and mandi commission are added, the cost per box will come to around Rs 22.
Per acre, Rs 250 boxes are required and the total cost of harvesting, packing and transporting will come to around Rs 8,400. However, at present, the box of 15 kg is going at Rs 20 and at that price, the total income from selling Rs 250 boxes will be Rs 5,000 only. In other words, a farmer will suffer a loss of Rs 3,400 on harvesting, packing and transport, in addition to the cultivation cost.
“The cost of cultivating tomatoes is increasing every season and with middlemen and mandi owners playing foul, we are suffering huge losses,” lamented Gowtham, farmer in Nuthimadugu of Kambaduru mandal.
The reason more number of farmers opting for tomato cultivation is its less duration (90 days). Each sapling of tomato costs Rs 70 paise to Rs 1.10 paise and 12,000 saplings are required per acre.
That is, the cost of saplings per acre is around Rs 12,000. If the other farm inputs like sprayings are taken into consideration, it costs another Rs 80,000 per acre.
When contacted, Anantapur Horticulture assistant director Chandraskehar said increasing the extent of tomato cultivation is decreasing the demand for its exports, resulting in the low prices.