Tomato farmers go for distress sale in AP
Dump heaps of tomatoes on the road as they are not getting remunerative prices
image for illustrative purpose
It's unfortunate that the government is not ensuring market intervention to help the farmers. They intervened when the prices went up abnormally in the urban areas by sourcing tomatoes from outside but when our growers are in distress, the government is unable to weed out middlemen and provide them remunerative prices
Visakhapatnam: Tomato farmers across Andhra Pradesh, one of the top producers in the country, are in distress with rain playing spoilsports in their hopes.
Though the prices in the retail market have not come down with tomatoes-most sought after for any season are in high demand all over the year, the farmers are not getting remunerative prices. The incessant rains and moisture content have also led to damage to their yield. The higher prices which they used to get by exporting to Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have also stopped due to availability of locally grown tomatoes there.
Undivided Chittoor, Kurnool, Prakasam and Anantapur are the largest producing areas in the State. In fact, Madanapalle has earned the reputation as one of the topmost tomato production centres in Asia. Farmers say due to the changing climate, their yield has come down from 2,000 tonne per day to 500. Continuous drizzle and occasion downpour is wreaking havoc in their lives.
The tomato season is considered good from March and onset of rainfall from August does not augur well for them. During November-December, it hits through the roof with the prices going up to Rs 120 to Rs 130 per kg. However, the farmers did not get a price commensurate with the retail price due to cornering by the middlemen.
"The situation is very bad. We are unable to get the money put into growing tomatoes forcing many not to pluck it as taking them to the market yard for sale to the wholesale traders will force us to spend more," regretted Manjunath, 45, a farmer from Valmikipuram in Rayachoti division of newly carved out Anamaya district.
He said today in the retail market tomatoes are sold at Rs 30 per kg in Tirupati whereas the farmers are being offered peanuts-which is not enough to meet the amount and time spent by them on getting the yield.
The situation came to such a pass that farmers in Anantapur dumped heaps of tomatoes in the middle of the road by bringing them in pick-up vans as a mark of protest against the apathetic attitude of the authorities.
"It's unfortunate that the government is not ensuring market intervention to help the farmers. They intervened when the prices went up abnormally in the urban areas by sourcing tomatoes from outside but when our growers are in distress, the government is unable to weed out middlemen and provide them remunerative prices," CPI State secretary K Ramakrishna told Bizz Buzz.
