COIMBATORE/DHARMAPURI: Disappointed by the plummeting price, farmers who brought produce to Kinathukadavu in Coimbatore dumped one tonne of tomatoes on the road on Monday. As no buyers had come to buy the produce and the procurement price went down to Rs 50 for a box of 15 kg, they dumped the tomatoes.
"We spent up to Rs 75,000 per acre. If the produce is sold at Rs 15 per kg, we will recover the cost. No buyer is ready to offer that price and we have no option than dumping it," said R Periyasamy, a farmer. Tomato cultivation in Dharmapuri has seen a massive boom because of favourable climatic conditions.
But the fall in prices has forced many farmers to directly sell to people at Rs 10 per kg, instead of approaching middlemen or market agents. Tomatoes are cultivated in 9,300 acres in Dharmapuri. The district produces average of over 60 tonnes every year. With procurement prices falling, farmers have rented vehicles and are selling it door to door.
R Kumaresan, a farmer in Karimangalam said, "Last month, the prices rose to Rs 70 to 80 a kg which encouraged a large number of farmers to cultivate tomatoes. The new varieties of tomato buds grow faster and within 30 to 40 days they start yielding. Because of this sudden increase in production, the prices are very poor. Wholesale buyers are willing to buy our produce for Rs 5 to 6 per kg. So we have taken up alternate marketing to reap some profits."
Another farmer, P Krishnakumar from Nallampalli said, "As opposed to the wholesale or retail markets we sell at reasonable prices. Tomatoes are hard to store, so we use trucks and move from street to street. While we fix prices at Rs 40 or 45 per kg, there is a lot of bargaining. We earn very little profit, but it is better than prices offered by wholesale traders."
When contacted, an official in the agriculture marketing department said, "For the past 10 days, tomatoes are selling around Rs 10 -12. On an average we get over 14 tonnes of tomatoes in the market. We are doing our best to keep the prices stable."