Heavy rains in the northern States have brought a windfall to tomato growers in Madanapalle.
The tomato growers have begun exporting stocks to markets in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh with first-grade tomato fetching a wholesale price of ₹14 a kg at the Madanapalle market and second-grade tomato fetching ₹10.8 a kg. The total arrival of stocks at the Madanapalle market, said to be the largest in Asia, stood at 1,230 tonnes on Sunday.
From mid-June, tomato prices have started coming down at the vegetable markets in Chittoor, Annamayya, Kadapa, Tirupati, and other parts of the State, with a sudden jump in production from a mere 100 tonnes in March-April to more than 1,000 tonnes a day from June. During this period, the prices too hovered between ₹120 to ₹25 a kg.
Kokkanti Manjunath, a tomato grower and trader of Valmikipuram mandal in Annamayya district, said that in the last fortnight, rains in Madanapalle, Kolar, and Chintamani (Karnataka) led to damage of the plantations and the crop. “Though we expected the produce from this region to cross over 2,500 tonnes a day, due to the inclement weather conditions, it is not crossing 1,500 tonnes,” he said.
“Suddenly, the vegetable traders and vendors from the northern States started contacting us for exports. Initially, we were hesitant to send the stocks due to heavy rains there. Some of the growers among us took the bold initiative and launched the exports from July,” he said.
It is observed that for a truckload of tomatoes, which is approximately 25 tonnes, the growers are getting ₹4 lakh, excluding transport charges. “Sometimes, we get close to ₹5 lakh per load. This profit is reasonable. If the rains subside, we can make some more profit as there will be better movement of vehicles overall,” said Siva, a tomato grower from Gurramkonda mandal.
The horticulture officials said that going by the fresh crop patterns in Annamayya and Chittoor district, a rapid increase in production and an equally rapid fall in prices was expected from August. However, considering the inclement weather and ‘silent damage’ to the crops, the possibility of the market arrivals crossing 2,000 tonnes a day looks remote.
At this juncture, the demand from the domestic markets is unlikely to go up. Hence, the best recourse for farmers to avert losses is through exports to the northern States, the officials said.
