Haryana farmers reap profits as tomato prices shoot up

IN WHOLESALE, A 25KG CARTON IS FETCHING UP TO ₹800, WHILE THE RETAIL PRICE IS AROUND ₹50/KG

KARNAL: After a long wait of three years, tomato growers in Haryana are harvesting a rich harvest following an unexpected rise in wholesale prices.

Following a huge demand, traders are camping in the tomato belts of Karnal, Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar districts and are directly buying from farmers.

This is helping farmers reap double profit as they need not spend on transportation by taking their produce to big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Dehradun, Kolkata, Chandigarh and Jaipur.

As per farmers, a 25kg carton is fetching a price of Rs 750-800 which is about three times higher than the prices of Rs 150200 of last year.

“This is a good year for farmers after a wait of almost three years. Farmers are likely to earn a profit of over Rs 2 lakh per acre on tomatoes if the prices and demand remain the same for the next couple of months,” said farmer Ajay Kumar, of Ladwa in Kurukshetra district, who has three acre under tomato.

Moreover, tenant farmers and landless agriculture labourers, who work with the farmers on a 50% share, are expecting good profit this year.

Nasib Singh, who has taken four acre on rent to grow tomatoes, said, “For the past two years, we were unable to earn the input cost as we had to take the produce to Delhi because there were no buyers in our area. This year, we will be able to compensate for the losses we suffered in the past two years due to poor prices.”

Heat wave impacts yield But farmers are also complaining of poor yield as early heat wave has capped the output to nearly 70% of normal. Farmers said poor yield is also a reason behind hike in prices as abnormal hot weather conditions in March affected the crop badly when it was in flowering stage.

The impact on lateral and hybrid varieties is more severe and delays growth of plants.

Madan Pal, a trader from Yamunanagar, said there is good demand of tomatoes from across states. “Besides mandis in Delhi, the traders are transporting tomato from Haryana to different cities of the country including Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Dehradun as they are getting a profit of Rs 20-30 per kg,” he said.

Profit for retailers too Small and local retailers are getting good profit as retail prices have reached to around Rs 50 per kilogram. As per market prices, retailers are earning nearly Rs 20 per kg by buying the produce directly from farmers at the rate of Rs 30 and selling it to Rs 50 to consumers.

“We cannot buy directly from the farmers as we have to pay commission to agents in the mandi and there will be no profit for us if we will sell it below Rs 50 per kg,” said Krishan Kumar, a vegetable vendor in Karnal.