Maharashtra: Tomato prices plummet to Rs2/kg in wholesale market

PUNE: A fresh harvest and excess production saw the price of tomatoes slump to Rs 2 per kg at Narayangaon — one of the state’s biggest wholesale markets — around 75km from here. The price ranged between Rs 7 and Rs 10 a kg two weeks ago. In the city’s retail markets, the price ranged between Rs 5 and Rs 10 per kg.
In August last year, a 20kg crate of tomatoes sold in the range of Rs 900 to Rs 1,400 at the Narayangaon market. “This prompted hundreds of farmers in Junnar and Ambegaon tehsils to go in for massive cultivation, hoping to get a high price again. However, their calculations proved wrong. Moreover, the quality of the produce is not up to the mark this year,” a senior market official said.

Sanjay Kale, chairman of the Narayangaon market, said, “Tomato is perishable and cannot be stored for long. Since the arrivals in the market were not of good quality, several wholesale traders did not attend the open auction. This led to a fall in prices.” Another reason for the price crash was the fresh arrival of tomatoes from Nashik district and other markets, he pointed out.

Ravindra Pate of Narayangaon has been growing tomatoes for the last decade. He said hundreds of farmers were going to face a massive loss this year. “At least Rs 1 lakh is required to harvest good quality tomatoes on an acre of land. There are several farmers who have invested lakhs of rupees this year. However, with such low prices, they can’t even recover their investment. This is going to impact the local economy in the coming months,” he felt.

Mangal Kale, a housewife from Vishrantwadi, was unaware of the drop in wholesale market prices. “We have never purchased any vegetable at such a low rate in the retail market. Neither the farmer nor the consumer benefits in such a situation. The vendors are known to sell vegetables at high prices as there is no government regulation.”

Another housewife from Balajinagar, Sangeeta Kulkarni, said, “Since the wholesale market is close to our residence, we don’t purchase vegetables from the local vendors. I have often observed a massive price difference and this needs to change.”