DHARMAPURI: Over 925 tonnes of tomatoes, worth Rs 1.72 crore, have been procured from farmers in Dharmapuri through e-NAM (National Agriculture Market ) portal in the last three months. With prices hitting the roof currently. officials in the agriculture marketing department and agribusiness department are confident that sales would touch the Rs 2 crore mark soon.
Tomatoes are cultivated on around 6,100 hectares in the district. Until recently farmers had to rely on private markets to sell their produce. However, in the last three months, the agriculture marketing department and agribusiness department have been directly procuring tomatoes from Farmers Producers Organisation (FPO), which has 1000 farmers as members, and selling them through the e-Nam portal. On an average, over 20 tonnes of tomatoes are procured from Dharmapuri and sold in Salem at 20% higher price than the market value through the portal.
Speaking to TNIE, N Muthamizh, a farmer from Palacode said, Over the past few days the prices of tomatoes have been increasing and on Wednesday one kilo was sold for Rs 68 -Rs 70 in Dharmapuri. As opposed to other districts like Salem or Coimbatore the prices have been low in Dharmapuri, because of the large-scale cultivation of tomatoes. When compared to other markets, tomato prices have always been lower here due to the vast cultivation area. So through e-Nam, we are selling our produce at Salem market prices and the price varies depending on the local demand. Compared to earlier prices, we are getting higher returns.”
Another farmer. R Manigandan from Marnadahalli, said “Recently, the district received significant rains which affected tomato crop that were in the flowering stage. Moreover, the harsh summer impacted the shelf life of tomatoes, which has also impacted production. Moreover, demand has been high from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and other areas also which plays a significant role in the price hike, he said.
Dr V Balasubramaniyam, deputy director of agriculture marketing and agribusiness department told TNIE “While the price in Dharmapuri is Rs 70 per kg, it is Rs 80 in Salem. Presently Dharmapuri farmers earn upto Rs 96 per kg. Usually, Dharmapuri provides over 20 tonnes of tomatoes a day. But in the past week, we could manage 16 to 17 tonnes. Since April, through e-Nam over 925 tonnes of tomatoes have been sold for Rs 1.72 crores and it is expected to cross `2 crore soon week.”