DHARMAPURI: Incessant rain has affected tomato cultivation in the district and sent prices soaring. While farmers are delighted, consumers are worried as prices soared to Rs 48 a kilo on Monday. Farmers said the inclement weather reduced the shelf life of tomatoes resulting in price rise.
Tomato is one of the key crops in the district, cultivated on 5700 hectares producing an average production of 75,000 tonnes per year. This year, because of the incessant rainfall over the past few days, the self-life of tomatoes has drastically reduced leading to a reduction in supply. This in turn pushed prices to soar between Rs 48 and Rs 50 per kg.
Speaking to TNIE, Gowri, a vegetable exporter from Palacode said, "Tomato cultivation often sees both extremes every year. Only in April, a kilo was sold at Rs 5 per kg and six months later it increased 10 fold to Rs 24 - Rs 26 (in October). Now the prices are estimated at Rs 48-50 in Ulavar Santhai, in retail the prices have further increased. This is a seasonal fluctuation, when the monsoon passes the prices will fall drastically again."
Selvaraj, a farmer, said, "Cultivating tomatoes between October and December is risky as it is profitable. During the normal seasons' tomatoes will have a shelf life of between 7 to 10 days, but during monsoon, the shelf life reduces drastically and we would have to sell the produce within two days or they will rot." He added that, even with low production, farmers are making good profits this season.
Consumers however are facing the heat of soaring prices. Natarajan, a resident of Dharmapuri town, said, "Tomatoes are part of the staple food. Prior to Deepavali, retail prices was around Rs 60-70 per kg. Only a few months ago we were purchasing the same for only Rs 5 and Rs 8 per kg."
Officials in the Agriculture Marketing department said, "Many farmers stopped cultivation of tomatoes because of the severe decline in prices a few months ago. Those who cultivated tomatoes reported low yield and this resulted in supply constraints. Arrivals to the Ulavar Sandhai has are down. On average, we get 11-12 tonnes of Tomato from farmers. But on Monday we received only 6tonnes."
Officials added that exports have increased as farmers get more profit in markets in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka.