The drop in cost of tomatoes to just Rs30 per kg at the market markets on Monday, compared to the previous price of Rs240 per kg and was a huge hit with customers from the Rayalaseema region, as well as neighboring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Comparatively to previous months, the quality of tomatoes, even if they are from the third grade variety and higher quality, has also improved which is due to the kind of tomatoes that vendors buy from other wholesale market for less.

First-grade tomatoes were offered at Rs38 per kilogram, while the second grade variety was priced at Rs29 for a kilogram during the Madanapalle market on Monday. The supply, however, wasn’t huge just 261 tonnes of tomatoes coming into the market during the day. Much of these tomatoes would go to cities around the nation.

It is tomato farmers who started the khariff harvest who feel depressed by the decrease in prices. The study shows that, between June and the beginning of August just 10% of the growers were able to profit from the soaring price of tomatoes. Moreover, many farmers had their crops damaged from adverse climate conditions.

[ Rs100 = EUR1.10 ]

Source: https://www.thehindu.com