Fighting the sudden dip in tomato prices Tamil Nadu farmers have discarded freshly harvested tomatoes into lakes. The price of tomatoes was Rs. 70 per Kg last year which was the reason for many farmers growing the crop. But this month the rates plummeted from Rs. 20 to Rs. 2 per Kg. This sudden drop causes the farmers to go into a much bigger loss.
The discarding of tomatoes was mainly seen in Rayakottai, Krishnagiri and Valappadi districts. State President for Tamil Farmers Union, Dheiva Sigamani explained the prices dropped due to the excess supply.
Farmers preferred to grow tomato as it is a short season crop unlike sugarcane and bananas. The shortage of water pushed the farmers to grow short season crops over long season harvests. Dheiva further stated the farmers were not angry but were just getting rid of the fruit that yields no value.
AIADMK spokesperson K. C. Palaniswami said the solution to this would be setting up a Minimum Support Price (MSP.) He further added the Government was working towards MSP and required the Central Government’s help as well.
