Tomato prices are going through the roof, with the staple vegetable being sold at Rs 80-100 per kg in most cities.
On Wednesday, the price of tomato ranged between Rs 90 and Rs 100 a kg in the nation’s capital. The wholesale prices of tomato range between Rs 60 and Rs 80 per kg in Delhi and elsewhere.
The main reason behind this surge is the dip in supplies due to heatwaves in tomato-growing areas and heavy rains. In just over two weeks, tomato prices have shot up in markets across the country from Rs 10-20 per kg to prices ranging between Rs 80 and Rs 100 per kg. Another reason is that this year, many tomato growers switched to beans, whose prices had surged last year. Crop damage is an additional factor.
Tomato prices have skyrocketed in Karnataka, including Bengaluru, as incessant rains have damaged the crop and made transportation difficult. The price of tomatoes touched Rs 100 per kg in Bengaluru markets. According to official data, the price of tomato rose on an average from Rs 25 to Rs 41 per kilo in retail markets. The maximum prices of tomatoes in retail markets ranged between Rs 80 and Rs 113.
In India, the Rabi tomato crop is grown mainly in the Junnar taluka of Maharashtra and in parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The produce from these areas comes to the market between March and August. After August, the market is supplied by the Kharif crop grown in Uttar Pradesh, Nashik in Maharashtra, and elsewhere in the country. About 5 lakh hectares of farmland come under the Rabi tomato, and around 8-9 lakh hectares under the Kharif crop on average. The cost of production of Rabi tomato is around Rs 12 per kg, while that of Kharif is Rs 10 per kg.
Tomato prices have been fluctuating widely over the last couple of years due to ineffective market interventions by the food authorities at the Centre and in the states. For instance, farmers suffered a shock in March-April this year. At the Narayangaon wholesale market in Junnar taluka of Pune district, the average price in March was Rs 5-10/kg, and in April it was around Rs 5-15/kg. In May, farmers were forced to sell their produce for between Rs 2.50-5/kg. So, many farmers have abandoned tomato. For instance, the Junnar taluka normally reports around 3,000-5,000 acres of Rabi tomato. This year, it is not even 1,000 acres.
In March-April and again in the beginning of May, prices collapsed because most of the crop coming to the market was of inferior quality. Farmers then resorted to panic selling. Faced with uncertainty on both prices and supplies fronts, farmers sold whatever crop they had, causing a glut. The current spike in prices is traced in part to price crash in April-May, which had prompted many growers to abandon tomato crop.
In May, with harvesting at its peak, farmers in Andhra Pradesh said they could not recover even harvesting and transportation costs. Growers said with traders not showing interest in buying tomatoes, they were compelled to sell the produce to traders in Delhi, Dehradun, Saharanpur, Chandigarh, Haridwar and other cities of nearby states at their own cost. Farmers said taking the produce to Delhi and other cities costs them Rs 60 per crate (20 to 25 kg), including that for harvesting, transportation and mandi charges. It is a pittance, considering their input costs total nearly Rs 50,000 per acre. In this scenario, farmers who had hired land for tomato cultivation at Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 per acre suffered huge losses. Tomato price crashed to Rs 10 a kg, with the farmers getting only Rs 3-4 per kg. Dejected farmers dumped their crop unharvested. They urged the government to at least compensate them by paying input costs to save them from crushing debts. In Telangana, as tomato prices crashed to Rs 4 per kg, distressed farmers in Nirmal and Adilabad dumped their produce on the road. Traders attributed the decline in prices to excess supply of tomatoes in the market. One can understand their agony because just the previous month, they had sold tomatoes at Rs 1,000 per quintal.
Tomato has company when it comes to skyrocketing prices. According to a media report, data from the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution’s Price Monitoring Division show that prices of nine of the 10 key food items — rice, wheat, tur dal, sugar, milk, tea (loose), salt (iodised, packed), potato, onion, and tomato — had increased as on June 27 from a month earlier. The price of salt alone was unchanged.
All told, it is time for our Members of Parliament to play Bharatiya Tomatina, desi version of the world’s largest food fight, in the new Parliament building. Tomatina (La Tomatina) happens in the town of Buñol in Spain every year on the last Wednesday of August. The food fight involves throwing tomatoes on one another. For Bharatiya Tomatina, our MPs need not follow the five ground rules of La Tomatina: do not bring bottles or hard objects as they can cause accidents and hurt other participants; do not rip other people’s T-shirts; you must squash the tomatoes before throwing them as this reduces the impact; ensure you keep a safe distance from the lorries. Instead, let us give them the leeway to use, as usual, mikes and other handy missiles.
As for other essential items, let us start say Tod dal festival in Parliament when dal prices shoot up; Tears of joy festival when onion prices go through the roof; Chalu festival when potato prices surge; and Chai per karcha (not charcha) festival when tea prices go up abnormally.
Our MPs, regardless of their political affiliation, have en bloc stopped taking rise in prices of essential commodities seriously. For them, these are peripheral matters. Central circulars that label the surge in prices of tomato, onion, potato or whatever as ‘seasonal’ phenomenon are more than enough for public consumption.
