Tomato surplus leaves farmers struggling amidst market woes

Farmers are urging the State government to step in with measures such as cold storage infrastructure and a minimum support price to ensure stability in the tomato market

Hyderabad: Tomato prices have crashed to the lowest levels in the state making the farmers restive. With the price offered at the harvest point ranging between Rs 2 to Rs 6 per kilogram, they find it hard to meet even labour costs involved for hand-picking, not to speak of transportation, and packaging. Many are on the verge of abandoning their farms instead of investing further.

Despite unfavourable conditions, particularly during the summer season, owing to high temperatures and groundwater depletion, tomato area witnessed an increase this year. Challenges for the tomato farmers are galore. High labour costs for operations such as weeding, harvesting, and sorting impacted the farmers. Post-harvest losses are also high due to the highly perishable nature of tomatoes.

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Besides this tomato tops the list of seven surplus vegetable crops in Telangana, with other surplus crops being brinjal, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, carrot, and radish. Egged on by the lottery-like price surge seen in one or two seasons over the past five years, vegetable farmers shifted to tomatoes in a big way this year. This shift has led to production exceeding both consumption and export requirements.

In the backdrop of such odds being faced by the farmers, the former chief minister, K Chandrashekhar Rao advocated the concept of crop colonies to regulate pattern of cropping. His initiative aimed to promote region-specific crops based on soil and climatic conditions, ensuring better yields and market stability.

According to leading vegetable wholesalers, tomato production in the state was exceeding demand. The fate of the surplus hinges on effective value addition to the produce, given its short shelf life. According to the official sources the projected yield for 2025 is 355,568 tons in the state, compared to 346,066 tons in 2024 and approximately 355,568 tons in 2023.

At the Chevella market, farmers report that a 25-kilogram box of tomatoes was fetching only Rs 50 to Rs 150. This drastic reduction in prices has left them unable to recoup even basic operational costs such as seeds, fertilizers, and pest control, which often amount to Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000 per acre.

In stark contrast, retail vendors sell the same tomatoes to consumers for Rs 10 to Rs 20 per kilogram, exposing the glaring disparity in earnings across the supply chain. Farmers like Venkataiah from Cherlagudem, Shabad Mandal, who invested Rs 1.4 lakh in cultivating two acres of tomatoes, lamented the deep debts caused by unprofitable prices. “I can’t even recover labour costs or transport expenses to take the produce to the market,” he said.