Tomato farmers in Madanapalle division of Annamayya district, considered Asia’s largest tomato-growing belt, are caught in ambiguity over the future as the year 2023 brought them the “best and the worst” times in the known history of their tomato cultivation. Two months ago, the highest wholesale price the tomato commanded in the region was ₹260 a kg, while the same price crashed to ₹10 and below on Wednesday.
With the first crop of the kharif season ready for harvest, the fields have been coming up with bumper yields for a week, leading to price-crash gradually. Post the COVID pandemic and unprecedented exports of tomatoes from the Madanapalle region between mid-2022 and 2023, the farmers received a shot in the arm and went in for cultivation of this kharif in hundreds of acres in Madanapalle, Piler, and Tamballapalle constituencies of Annamayya district, and Palamaner and Punganur constituencies in adjoining Chittoor district.
The arrival of stocks at Madanapalle market which stood the lowest at fewer than 90 tonnes a day two months ago, has now drastically picked up with over 300 tonnes a day. This is apart from the arrival of stocks in other markets at Angallu, Valmikipuram, and Palamaner. From September end onwards, the daily harvesting is expected to cross over one thousand tonnes. “If this happens, the price might touch below ₹2 a kg, and the farmers will be left with no option but to leave the crops unharvested,” said Manjunath, a senior tomato farmer at Valmikipuram.
The desperation among the farmers is on the rise for one burning reason. Unlike in previous years, the cultivation of tomato has picked up exponentially all over India. Earlier, the northern States and the Himalayan region and Northeast used to depend on exports from Madanapalle and some parts of Karnataka. But, the year 2023 saw tomato cultivation being localised in all these regions. Maharashtra, which seemed to take a backseat in tomato farming, is believed to be dashing towards becoming No. 1 in the arena thanks to the exploitation of revolutionary horticulture technologies for three years.
In this context, the farmers of Madanapalle said that the exports to other States at present slipped to below 10% compared to their monopoly till last year.
A horticulture official said that a clear picture of the prospects of tomato farmers in the Madanapalle region would emerge in the coming months. “We have been cautioning the farmers here not to go in for mass cultivation of the same crop at the same time, but to adopt certain patterns for a sustained cultivation. Now, the farmers are realizing their mistake,” he said.
