Pulp units urged to buy tomatoes as prices fall

NELLORE: Huge arrival in the market has brought down tomato prices in Chittoor district. Observing the plights of farmers, district administration of Chittoor held discussions with managements of pulp industries and urged them to buy tomatoes for crushing to avoid heavy losses to farmers. There are 45 pulp industries in Chittoor district.  

Farmers in the district have raised tomatoes in more than 6,800 hectares and the markets of Madanapalle, Punganur, Palamaneru, Kalikiri, Gurramkonda and Mulakalacheruvu have been getting 1,000 metric tonnes of the fruit a day.

Traders from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka used to visit wholesale markets in Palamaner, Madanapalle and Punganur to purchase tomatoes during the season. The scenario was, however, changed now as TN traders have started encouraging local farmers to grow tomatoes. Huge arrivals coupled with less demand from other States brought down tomato prices.  The price of tomatoes in the retail market remains at `15-20 a kg. Such a low price of tomatoes is hitting farmers hard.  

“The price was good in the local markets in May, June and July. But, the price had drastically fallen by the end of July and the trend continued with huge local arrivals. We had suffered heavy losses during the pandemic. District administration has been supporting us for procurement of stocks for pulp industries,” said Narayana, a farmer from Nimmalapalli.

Recently, District Collector M Harinarayanan held a meeting with management of pulp industries, marketing officials and asked the pulp industries to run the firms for crushing tomatoes for supporting farmers. The collector instructed the department of Horticulture to collect the details of produce and co-ordinate with officials of the Marketing Department for supplying the stocks to pulp industries.