Two farmers from Manjoor have taken a huge cut to their profits just to supply tomatoes to the local market at relatively affordable prices.
The brothers, Raman and Puttuswamy, residents of Manjoor, a town in the Nilgiris located around 30 km from the district headquarters in Udhagamandalam, had sowed tomatoes for the first time in almost two decades, when the huge increase in tomato prices started rising.
According to Raman, the duo would typically sow crops that are popular in the Nilgiris, such as potatoes, beetroot, cabbage and garlic. However, this year, they decided to plant tomatoes and began sowing in April of this year on around 50 cents.
“We had not successfully grown tomatoes in 20 years, as previous attempts had led to failure of the crops, and when we started sowing this year, the price of tomatoes was hovering at around ₹ 10-20, with many local farmers critical of our move,” he added.
Both Raman and Puttusamy faced the challenges of the monsoon while growing their crops, with around 400 of their plants being destroyed due to the heavy rain over the last month. “However, with careful preparations, we managed to save around 600 of the plants,” they said.
Since the time they started harvesting, prices of tomatoes began skyrocketing, with some merchants charging almost ₹ 180 for a kg of tomatoes. However, both Raman and Puttusamy, wanting to help local families struggling with increasing prices in basic household items, decided to sell their produce only to local merchants at less than half the price that other vegetable producers were selling.
“We know how difficult it is for families to manage household expenses, and Manjoor, being a small town, home primarily to tea estate workers and small businessmen, was hit especially hard due to the high vegetable prices,” said Mr. Puttusamy.
The two men have harvested around 1,000 kg of tomatoes so far this season, and have supplied the produce to the small merchants around Manjoor, who have also sold the produce at around the same prices, taking after the example of the two farmers.
