Medak farmer becomes crorepati by selling Tomatoes, earns Rs 1.80 cr

The 37-year-old farmer had planted Tomatos in eight acres at Medak's Kowdipally

Medak: The skyrocketing prices of Tomatoes had made a Tomato farmer in Medak district a crorepathi in less than a month as the farmer had got more than Rs 1.80 crore income on Tomato crops during the period.

Meet the farmer Bansawada Mahipal Reddy (37), who cultivates different vegetables on 40 acres of land in Kowdipallay Mandal of Medak. Mahipal Reddy had planted Tomatos in eight acres in Kowdipally on April 15. To ensure the survival of the crop during the hot summer, Reddy was growing them under shade nets. When the influx of Tomato was down into the market in the middle of June, Mahipal Reddy had started getting a harvest at a time when the prices of the Tomatos were going through the roof.

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Reddy, who would usually supply Tomatoes to Patancheru, Shapur and Bowenpally markets, had started getting more than Rs 100 per kg. Speaking to Telangana Today, Reddy has said that he has been into farming for two decades, but he never saw such money in a year’s time leave alone the talk of seeing such a huge amount of money in a month.

Reddy, who owns 20 acres of land and hires the rest of the land, has said that he had seen highs and lows in farming during the past 20 years. Stating that he had dumped the Tomatoes roadside when he did not get even Rs 1 per kg, he said that he had also got good prices in the past, but never got more than Rs 100 a KG. Reddy had got 7,000 boxes of Tomato harvest so far. Each box is getting Rs 2,600 in the market. The young farmer said he had discontinued his studies as he failed in 10th class some two decades ago. He further said that he had invested Rs 2 lakhs on each acre of the crop which includes saplings, fertilisers, shade nets, cultivation expenditure, labour and others.

The farmer had a Capsicum Crop on four acres of land. He was preparing some 28 acres of land to take up the cultivation of various vegetables in July and August. Reddy’s wife Banswada Divya is the current Sarpanch of Mohammad Nagar.