A file photo of farmer waiting for buyers at the APMC market in Kolar in Karnataka on July 20, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Bhagya Prakash K
The prices of tomatoes that had touched nearly ₹200 per kg in July have crashed to below ₹10 per kg in the Kolar and Kalasipalyam wholesale markets on September 6. In retail stores in Bengaluru, prices are in the range of ₹15-₹20 per kg, and are expected to come down to ₹10 by the weekend.
This has left farmers staring at severe losses. There have been several instances of tomatoes being unsold in auctions and being dumped on the streets by angry farmers in Kolar, the second largest tomato market in Asia.
Kolar served as the lifeline for tomatoes for almost the whole of India between May and July when the crop had failed everywhere else. In the first week of July, a box of 15 kg of tomatoes sold at a record ₹2,200 while the price was in the range of ₹100 – ₹150 per box on September 6.
Narayana Gowda, a farmer from Kolar, said, “There is a glut in the market even as demand has fallen. Not only have the prices crashed, but even at such low prices, which doesn’t even cover input costs, many farmers are not able to sell their produce. Many have dumped them on the streets. We demand that the government announce a Minimum Support Price (MSP) of at least ₹10 per kilo. Otherwise, the situation will only worsen.”
The leaf curl disease that led to severe crop loss during the last crop cycle still persists leading to low yield.
Increased sowing, no demand from outside Karnataka
Umesh Mirji, Managing Director, Horticultural Producers’ Cooperative Marketing and Processing Society (HOPCOMS), said that the arrival of tomatoes had improved significantly.
“Given the prices of tomatoes had shot up so high, sowing of tomatoes has increased,” he said. “In the last crop cycle, crop failure in Maharashtra and other regions had led to huge demand for tomatoes from Kolar and surrounding areas. But now that a new crop has arrived in other regions, there is no demand from outside. In June and July, buyers from across the subcontinent were camping in Kolar. Now, almost no one from outside Karnataka is here. The action has shifted to the Nashik market (in Maharashtra),” said K. Triveni Kumar, a senior merchant in Kolar APMC Yard.
Prices of other veggies also crash
The prices of most other vegetables, except onions and potatoes, have also fallen significantly. For instance, a kilo of beans that usually sells on the higher side was selling in the range of ₹70 – ₹100 in the Kalasipalyam wholesale market on August 6, but had dropped to ₹22 – ₹30 range on September 6.
The price of a kilo of capsicum has fallen from ₹55 to ₹15, carrots from ₹55 to ₹30, cabbage from ₹20 to ₹9, beetroot from ₹22 to ₹18. The prices of all gourds have fallen by over 50% compared to the same day last month.
“As the prices of vegetables were on the higher side during the last crop cycle, sowing had increased. Plus, weather conditions were favourable for this cycle, leading to a glut in the market, even as demand has fallen temporarily after the recent festival season. It will pick up again in two weeks for the Gauri Ganesha festival,” said the vegetable procurement chief of a leading chain of grocery stores in Bengaluru.
Low prices expected to be short-lived
“Through August there was an intense dry spell. Its effect will start showing only in October when the prices of vegetables are expected to go up again. But we hope, as predicted by India Meteorological Department, there are good rains in September, and there is no crop loss,” said Mr. Mirji, MD, HOPCOMS.
Though the prices of onions have marginally increased, it is not at the ₹60 – ₹70 levels it was feared to reach in September, thanks to a slew of measures by the Union Government, according to an industry insider. The price of onion has marginally increased and has presently stabilised around ₹30 per kilo.