Dhenkanal: Tomato farmers in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district are facing severe losses as prices have crashed to Rs 2 per kg at the farm level, despite the vegetable being sold for Rs 20 per kg in the market.
Unable to recover even basic production costs, many farmers have been forced into distress sales, while some have abandoned their crops in the fields.
After spending so much time and money on the growing the crop for the last three months, they are not even recovering the labour wages spent on harvesting.
After unseasonal rains damaged paddy in many districts, farmers growing tomatoes in the district have been hit severely. The banks of Brahmani and Sapua rivers are suitable for tomato cultivation. While tomatoes are grown in all blocks of the district, this vegetable is grown in abundance in Parajang and Kankadahad blocks. This year, tomatoes have been grown in about 500 hectares in the district and the abundance of the vegetable had given hope to the farmers that they would be able to recover some losses they endured due to losses incurred in paddy cultivation
However, the sharp drop in wholesale rate of the crop at the farm level has shattered the hopes of the farmer at the time of harvest. The prices have come down, and the traders are lowering the prices drastically. A 25-kg tray of tomato, a short-duration seasonal crop, is being sold for anything between Rs 100 and Rs 120. Let alone the expenses incurred by farmers in growing the cop, they are also unable to recover the labour costs for harvesting the vegetable. As a result, many farmers have left their crop to rot in the fields.
Tomato prices crashed in the district over the past week and this is being attributed to a bumper crop this year. Lack of food processing industries and cold storages in the district have increased the plight of the farmers.
