'Dish on fire': Tomato stories are flavor of season as prices hit the roof

Vizag/Hyderabad: Imagine gifting tomatoes to a friend or bringing veggies from abroad just for a Chutney! Social media have been flooded with amazing stories revolving around tomatoes in the season of high inflation.

Woman brings 10 kg of tomatoes from Dubai to India

A woman from Dubai carried 10 kg of tomatoes from Dubai to India at her mother's request. When the woman asked her mother what she wanted from UAE, she pitched for 10 kg of tomatoes.

Twitter user Revs posted it on Twitter. "My sister is coming to India from Dubai for her children's summer holidays, and she asked my mum if she wanted anything from Dubai and my mother said bring 10 kilos of tomatoes. And now she has packed 10kg tomatoes in a suitcase and sent it," he tweeted.

My sister is coming to India from Dubai for her children's summer holidays and she asked my mum if she wanted anything from Dubai and my mother said bring 10 kilos of tomatoes. 😑😑 And so now she has packed 10kg tomatoes in a suitcase and sent it.
I mean.......

— Revs :) (@Full_Meals) July 18, 2023

The woman has packed tomatoes in Pearlpet storage jars and kept them in the suitcase. Revs on his Twitter page said his family uses a ridiculous amount of tomatoes. He said his mother makes pickles, and chutney besides saving some for him.

With mixed reactions from the netizens, a few people satirically said they hoped she reached India without any issues from the customs for carrying precious items. A Twitter user explained the minimal price difference between Dhirams and Rupees in comments.

Social service

A few days ago, Appa Rao and his wife Mohini in Anakapalle district in Andhra Pradesh offered 51 kg tomatoes in 'Tulabharam' to Goddess at Nukalamma temple. The weight of the tomatoes was equal to their daughter's body weight. Temple officials said they would use those tomatoes for Nitya Annadanam (free meal service). A video of their daughter sitting on Tulabharam while her father was pilling up tomatoes packed in covers went viral on social media.

In Hyderabad, Nalla Shiva, who is a resident of the Srinagar colony, distributed 400 kg of tomatoes to locals on the occasion of his daughter Chaitanya's birthday. The video shows how the locals lined up to get a kilo of tomatoes each.

"I wanted my daughter's birthday to be memorable not only for her but for the entire community. With the rising prices of tomatoes, I realized that many families were facing hardships in managing their daily expenses. So, I thought of distributing tomatoes as a symbol of love and support." said Shiva.

Centre sells for Rs 70 per Kg

People are expecting some relief as the centre has decided to reduce prices to Rs 70 per kilo. Currently, the Centre has reduced prices of subsidized tomatoes to Rs 70 per kilogram against the earlier price of Rs 80 to provide relief to the common man. Tomatoes will be available at subsidized rates in Delhi-NCR and some other key cities through the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED).

The all-India average retail price of tomatoes is Rs 120 per kg, although the key kitchen item is selling as high as Rs 245 per kg in some places.

Procuring from other AP, Karnataka, Maha

On the government's direction, NCCF and NAFED are procuring tomatoes from mandis in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra for simultaneous disposal in major consumption centers.

The retail sale of tomatoes in Delhi-NCR started on July 14. Till July 18, a total of 391 tonnes of tomatoes had been procured by the two agencies, which are being continuously disposed of to the retail consumers in major consumption centres of Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.

Maximum retail price --Rs 245 per kg

As per the data from the Department of Consumer Affairs, the all-India average retail price of tomato was Rs 119.29 per kg on Wednesday. The maximum retail price is Rs 245 per kg, while the minimum retail price is Rs 40 per kg, and the modal price is Rs 120 per kg.

Tomatoes are sold at Rs 155 per kg in Mumbai, Rs 132 in Chennai, and Rs 143 per kg in Kolkata.

Lower-middle income most affected

Of all, it is middle and lower and middle-income people who are the most affected. They have removed tomatoes from their kitchen list, and are depending on alternative vegetables. Many say chicken seems to be relatively cheaper.

With the heavy rush and long queue at the Rythu bazaars where tomatoes are sold at subsidized prices, most people prefer to buy veggies from supermarkets where the price varies from Rs 120 to Rs 150 per kg.

Abdul Hussain Abedi from Miyapur said, "I bought 1 kg of tomatoes for Rs 150 and got not more than 3 tomatoes. So one tomato costs Rs 45 per piece which is very costly. We are now making biryani without tomatoes."

Andhra has major production

Andhra Pradesh contributes over 20 percent of the total tomato production in the country, followed by Madhya Pradesh (12 percent) and Karnataka (10 percent). Andhra produces 26 lakh metric tonnes from an area of 58,000 hectares. The average productivity of the crop is 36 to 40 MT per hectare. T

Farmers in ten districts grow tomatoes. Chittoor, Anantapur, Kadapa, Kurnool, Prakasham, East Godavari, and Vizianagaram are the top tomato-producing districts. Most of the tomato crop is sown between February and April. It is harvested in summer. The hot weather conditions in May affect flowering and fruit sets adversely, and thereby, the yield decreases. This results in a price hike between July and September.

Horticulture officials and traders said going by the crop pattern in the ongoing Khariff, tomato prices would most likely begin to drop from mid-September onwards.