AP: Farmers Sell Tomatoes at 50ps Per KG, Vendors Make it 20 Rs

Tomato farmers In the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh are in severe distress after the slump in market prices affecting their livelihood. While a Kilogram of tomatoes is priced at Rs.20 to Rs 25 in the retail market, the farmer who has toiled hard for months together is being paid only 50 paise per KG! The prices have fallen to such an extent that tomato farmers cannot even bring them to the market and many of them are dumping them or just leaving the crop as it is.

Apart from several parts of the Chittoor and Annamayya districts, tomato prices have slumped in the Kurnool district. Tomatoes are widely cultivated in Pattikonda Aspari and Aluru mandals in the district. After the Madanapalle market, the Pattikonda market is also one of the large markets for tomato produce in the State. Every day more than 20 lorries of tomatoes are exported from here to other states.

Around three days ago, the farmers were receiving a Rupee to half a rupee per kilo rupee. This led to a situation where some farmers left even without bringing their produce after getting to know about the low prices.

It is reported that erratic weather conditions, and surplus production, have resulted in a 50 percent drop in tomato prices. The tomato wholesale markets have also been getting produce from Kolar, Chintamani, and Srinivasapura of neighbouring Karnataka for the past few days which is affecting the demand and supply chain. Farmers are demanding that the government should support the farmers by subsidizing the prices and providing them with market rates.

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