DHARMAPURI: As people tear up over high tomato prices across the country, farmers in Dharmapuri are crying their heart out over fall in price of the vegetable in uzhavar sandhais in the district. The price has dropped to Rs 40-Rs 50 per kg from a peak of Rs 105 per kg in the tomato hub of Tamil Nadu in just a week due to slump in demand.
Even as the price of the staple kept increasing across the country, selling up to nearly Rs 200 per kg in Chennai, the price has been falling for the past 10 days in Dharmapuri. The district is the largest producer of the vegetable in the state and the produce is supplied to various markets in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
In uzhavar sandhais, where farmers directly sell their produce without the involvement of middlemen, the price of tomatoes has dropped to Rs 40 to Rs 50 per kg on Friday. Agriculture officials said drop in consumption of tomatoes due to its prohibitive cost has led to drop in demand across the district.
Speaking to TNIE, S Poomani, a farmer from Palacode, said, “In uzhavar sandhais, we get only Rs 40 per kg. In Salem, a kilo is sold for Rs 95. Some farmers have stopped bringing their produce to Dharmapuri market and are instead selling it to private traders at lower price to save on transport cost.”
Farmer M Selvraj of Nallampalli said, “We hear that farmers in North India are making lakhs of profit by selling tomatoes. In cities like Chennai, tomatoes are sold for Rs 150 per kg. But here, even during peak demand, the price was just a little over Rs 100 per kg. Price is still very poor compared to other districts.”
Sale through ration shops a reason for fall in tomato price, says official
A KalpaPAna, a shopkeeper said, “We sell a kg of tomato at `70, we buy in uzhavar sandhais and add a small profit. Since the vegetable is sold for `60 per kg in select ration shops, the demand could have slumped in open markets.”
Agriculture marketing officer M Manjunatheswaran said, “Over the past few months, Dharmapuri has been getting scanty rainfall. As tomatoes thrive in the sun, the output has gone up. But due to sharp uptick in price, many households have stopped buying tomatoes in bulk quantities. Usually, we get up to 11 tonnes in uzhavar sandhais, but now we get only four to five tonnes and over one tonne of tomatoes is left unsold.”
Tomato is cultivated in over 12,000 hectares in the district and farming happens all through the year.
Tomatoes are being sold in 500 ration shops across the state at a cost of `60. This could have also led to fall in prices, sources said.
Deputy Director of Agriculture Marketing (in charge), M Balasubramanian said to TNIE, “Through e-Nam we are supplying over nine tonnes of tomatoes per day from Dharmapuri district to Salem. Farmers are aggrieved over fall in price in Dharmapuri. We will look into it,” he said.