Haryana tomato growers stare at losses as prices fall below ₹5/kg

Harvesting at its peak in region, farmers say they are unable to bear even harvesting and transportation cost

Tomato growers are staring at losses this year as the wholesale prices have crashed drastically to around ₹4 per kg.

Growers said with traders not showing interest in buying tomatoes, they were being forced to sell the produce to Delhi, Dehradun, Saharanpur, Chandigarh, Haridwar and other cities of nearby states at their own cost.

Harvesting of this widely-grown vegetable is at its peak in the region and farmers said they were unable to bear even the harvesting and transportation cost.

Growers said with traders not showing interest in buying tomatoes, they were being forced to sell the produce to Delhi, Dehradun, Saharanpur, Chandigarh, Haridwar and other cities of nearby states at their own cost.

The prices have fallen to ₹100 to ₹150 per crate (25kg) against average ₹600 to ₹800 last year. Farmers said taking the produce to Delhi and other cities costs them ₹60 per crate, including that for harvesting, transportation and mandi charges.

They said at this price, they are not even able to earn the input cost which is around ₹50,000 per acre, whereas the farmers who have hired land for tomato cultivation at ₹30,000 to ₹40,000 per acre are likely to suffer huge losses if the prices remain the same.

“I sold 37 crates (25kg per crate) for ₹100 to ₹120 per crate in Saharanpur. Delhi’s Azadpur mandi prices have declined to ₹3 to ₹4 per kg which is the biggest reason for fall in the wholesale prices,” said Harish Kumar, a tenant farmer from Radaur of Yamunanagar, who has taken one acre land for ₹57,000.

Growers said the input cost has also increased due to repeated pest attacks on the crop as they have to spend funds on pesticides to protect the crop.

Raj Kumar, a farmer from Ladwa of Kurukshetra district, said the prices are around ₹3 to ₹4 per kg and at this cost we will not be able to earn even the production cost which is around ₹40,000 per acre, besides the rent of the land.

Even farmers and traders are predicting that the prices may fall further as the farmers cannot store the matured crop for long. “There is a strong possibility that the prices may fall further by the end of this month as harvesting of tomato will start in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh and traders prefer to buy tomato from Himachal instead of Haryana,” said Ajay Kumar, a trader of Kurukshetra.

Tomato is largely grown in northern districts of Kurukshetra, Karnal, Yamunanagar and Ambala districts. Last year, tomato farmers earned huge profits as the prices touched ₹800 per crate and this resulted an increase in the acreage under tomato cultivation.

As per the state horticulture department’s figures, Haryana’s contribution in the country’s tomato production is around 3.60% as the state has around 30,000 hectares under tomato cultivation against 22,000 hectares of the last year.

Also, farmers said the Bhavantar Bharpayee Scheme (price compensation scheme), launched by the state government in Haryana to protect farmers from sudden fall of prices of vegetables, will provide a major relief to farmers as they said prices of ₹5 per kg fixed under the scheme will not cover the input cost.