Centre pitches to sell tomatoes at Rs 80 per kg; some farmers become rich, some fall victim

New Delhi: In a big relief, the Centre has decided to sell tomatoes at Rs 80 per kg and the sale begins from Sunday, as against Rs 90 per kg earlier.

The sale started on Sunday at select locations in the country and will be expanded to other regions as well, as applicable. This aims to provide relief to people from the high prices of the key kitchen item in retail markets.

Two days ago, the Centre started to sell tomatoes at a discounted rate of Rs 90 per kg in Delhi-NCR through mobile vans. There has been a decrease in the wholesale prices of tomatoes due to the intervention of the government to sell them at a concessional rate at several locations in the country where the prices were exceptionally high.

After a re-assessment of the situation from more than 500 points in the country, the Centre has decided to sell it at Rs 80 per kg from July 16.

Sales started on Sunday at several points each in Delhi, Noida, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Patna, Muzaffarpur and Arrah through the National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and NCCF. It will be expanded to more cities from July 17 depending upon the prevailing market prices at such locations.

Kitchens skip tomato in daily meals

Since the last few weeks, tomato prices have been on the rise across India, and heavy rains have caused a shortage of tomatoes. This has put pressure on prices, where the average retail price of tomatoes is Rs 99.9 per kg, while the maximum price is even higher, at Rs 180 per kg.

Rythu Bazaars in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana sold tomatoes for subsidy prices, which resulted in long queues for at least 4-5 hours daily.

The rise in tomato prices has given a tough time for every household who had to shift to alternative vegetables, skipping tomatoes in their regular meal or going for tomato paste. But this stage has given a hard time for food vendors, especially pav bhaji, and chaat vendors, who were forced to ‘jugad’ and balance the taste of their food items.

Surprisingly, even the major food outlets of McDonald’s franchises in India have stopped adding tomatoes to the burgers due to its shortage.

Political parties seized opportunity

Many political parties took this as an opportunity and sold tomatoes for a subsidy price, a neat trick ahead of the elections.

In Vijayawada, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) distributed tomatoes at Rs 30 per kg, attracting a large crowd of people who were eager to buy tomatoes at a lower price, while Congress sold for Rs 50 per kg.

Warangal District Congress led by Nayini Rajender Reddy took out a protest distributing 500 kg of tomatoes free of cost to people.

In Tamil Nadu, tomatoes are sold at low prices through ration shops, farm green consumer shops, and mobile farm green consumer shops.

Tomato farmers under threat

In an unfortunate incident at Madanapalle in Annamayya district, a farmer Narem Rajasekhar Reddy was killed by unknown men who allegedly had come to rob the farmer’s money that he earned selling tomatoes. The farmer recently harvested tomatoes and sold 70 crates in the market and earned Rs 30 lakh in the last few weeks. He was tied up to a tree and choked to death using towels. The investigation is on to nab the accused.

In Bengaluru, a farmer Mallesh had to pay with tomatoes when his vehicle crashed into a car. A gang of three allegedly hijacked and fled with farmer Mallesh’s truck laden with 2.5-tonne produce, after realising he had no cash to compensate them for their broken mirror.

On July 15, a tomato-laden truck overturned on Hyderabad-Nagpur highway while it was heading to Delhi from Kolar, Karnataka. The driver immediately contacted the police, who deployed policemen to avoid theft.

Farmers turn security guards

Worrying about their tomato crop thefts, farmers in Karnataka have pitched tents to guard their farms and prevent tomato thefts around the clock. According to the farmers, they earn Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000 profit by selling one box of tomatoes.

A farmer in Hassan district in Karnataka lodged a police complaint alleging that Rs 3 lakh worth of tomatoes were stolen overnight from his farm.

Farmers become millionaires

Tomato farmers have seen their income double this year, thanks to a sharp rise in the crop’s prices and the modern farming techniques they have employed, leading to a bumper harvest.

A farmer Ishwar Gaykar (36), from Pachghar village in Junnar tehsil of Pune district in Maharashtra has become a millionaire by selling his bountiful yield of the key kitchen staple for Rs 3 Crore in just over a month while overcoming various challenges. He who owns 18 acres of agricultural land, cultivated tomatoes on 12 acres.

Gaykar had faced a difficult decision of dumping a large quantity of harvested tomatoes in May this year due to low prices. Undeterred by the setback, he continued to exhibit unwavering determination and work tirelessly on his 12-acre farm to cultivate tomatoes. Good knowledge of fertilisers and pesticides, helped ensure that their crop is safe from pests.

Another farmer Khursheed Ahmad Bhat, who set up a tomato farm in Narkara village of Budgam district more than a decade ago, said that this year he won’t have to worry about whether his produce will fetch him the right price.

“There is a scarcity of tomatoes in the market, and people have been directly approaching me to buy them. I have been offered a higher price since tomatoes are in short supply, but I am selling at a fixed price of Rs 150 per kg,” said the farmer.

Memes, reels go viral on social media

Social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook have seen many funny posts, memes and reels on the hike in tomato prices.

Youngsters were seen doing funny reels about the hike of tomatoes.