Production of tomatoes is not a challenge. What is lacking in our country is post-harvest management, said Ashok Dalwai, CEO of National Rainfed Area Authority (Central Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare) on Friday while delivering the keynote address at the two day “Tomato: Problems, Perspectives, and Plant Breeding Solutions” conference.
The conference was organised by the Foundation for Advanced Training in Plant Breeding, a non-profit organisation, in collaboration with the University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot, and held at Gandhi Krishi Vigyana Kendra (GKVK) in Bengaluru.
During his address, Dr. Dalwai linked the tomato price volatility to an imbalanced relation between tomato supply and demand and suggested the integration of value system and product diversification into the supply chain to benefit farmers. He also highlighted the fact that the farmers’ share in the consumer’s rupee is only 33% and drew attention to the need for inclusiveness from the perspective of farmers. Talking to The Hindu, he speculated that accurate estimation of the demand of the market, backed by real-time data gathered through new-age tech would help forecast prices, thus, curbing, to some extent, its volatility.
The aim of the conference was to facilitate interaction between the diverse stakeholders and to discuss ideas and solutions in the field of tomato farming, processing, cultivation, and utilisation. Key concerns that were addressed included national-level gaps in resource allocation towards horticulture, the stagnant biosecurity bill, and the dissonance between farmers and tapping into the global market through inter-county import-export relations as a potential solution.
N.K. Krishna Kumar, former deputy director general of ICAR Delhi, who also spoke at the conference, called for the Indian tomato industry to expand globally while also encouraging grassroots improvements beyond national-level policies. If problems remain unaddressed, however, he predicted the same fate as tomatoes for onions, potatoes and other vegetables as well.
