Neglect of Farmers Led to Costly Tomatoes

HYDERABAD: Pricey tomatoes being guarded by the police along the Delhi highway in Adilabad district recently captured the public imagination, which is in stark contrast to the usual pictures of tomato loads being dumped on roads or in market yards. In this context, farmers Deccan Chronicle spoke to averred that the present situation, although not sought by them, only mirrors the logical consequence of the negligence they have been enduring.

“Having burnt my fingers in the last two years and incurring a loss of Rs 1,50,000, which added to my debt burden, which shot up to Rs 4 lakh, I did not dare to cultivate tomatoes again this summer,” said 42-year-old M. Shekhar, a farmer in Arutla village of Manchala mandal in Ranga Reddy district.

He cited the high cost of cultivation of tomatoes, of Rs 50,000 per acre, as a main reason. “The costs to raise my two-acre crop rose by another Rs 50,000 owing to the virus which struck it last year. I had sold my crop then at around Rs 60 for a 25 kg box, in sharp contrast to the Rs 2,000 at present,” he said.

Claiming absence of adequate government support, Shekhar said, “Apart from cultivating my three-acre farm, I also do the work of laying pipes for drip irrigation. Of late, I have been losing my income earned from agriculture.”

He also bemoaned the government stopping schemes like the 90 per cent subsidy on drip irrigation and other subsidies, on inputs and buying tractors.

While agreeing that the current prices of tomatoes keep them out of the reach of the common man, Shekhar makes the case for a base price or MSP (minimum support price) for his produce. “We should get a guaranteed price of at least Rs 500 to Rs 600 per 25-kg box. This will help us continue our work and feed the nation. Consumers, which the media seems to bat for whenever prices rise, will also not feel the pinch.”

But neither Shekhar nor his fellow villagers, like K. Sathi Reddy, K. Shekhar Reddy, or B. Krishna Reddy, of Kammalapalli village in B. Kothakota mandal of Annamayya district of Andhra Pradesh, is hopeful that they will get a good price for their tomato crop next time.

K. Shekhar Reddy, who got good rates for tomatoes last November when the crop was damaged due to rains, said that the saplings he had planted died this summer owing to excess heat.

“The rates of tomatoes are determined by auction in centres like Madanapalli (home to the biggest market for tomatoes in Asia) which then becomes a benchmark for us. The traders here quote a lesser price than that as tomatoes are of better quality there and have a longer shelf life. If the price there is Rs 2,500, we get around Rs 2,200,” he said.

“I wonder when consumers can pay Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 for a litre of liquor, why do they gripe against Rs 60 or so for litre of milk and Rs 100 for a kg of tomatoes? We are the ones who toil and should get our due,” he said.

The high rates are also partly owing to a lack of interest among farmers to take up the crop, said K. Sathi Reddy. Having seen the vagaries of cultivating tomatoes since his childhood the 50-year-old farmer says many times he hadn’t even got transport charges after selling his crop. “I did not have water to cultivate tomatoes in summer and hence, did not benefit from these high prices,” he said.

Given the unpredictable nature of agricultural income, farmer A. Mahipal Reddy in Arutla village said his girl child was denied a seat by Johnson Grammar School in Hyderabad and house owners in Champapet refused to even let out their house despite being of the same caste. “Marketing personnel from banks seeking to provide personal loans cut the call as soon as they hear that I am a farmer,” he said.

Asked if he would give his daughter in marriage to a farmer, he replied in the negative, saying: “Why would I do that after what I have endured all through my life? Men of marriageable age in our village remain unhitched although they own 10 acres of land.”

He said: “The current rates of tomatoes will fall again in August second or third week and from September, there won’t be any discussion about what we endure until a virus or a natural calamity, like excess rain, leads to price rise again.”

Smaller farmers said that the government should start helping them with input costs, instead of paying Rythu Bandhu to those owning over 10 acres. “Only one out of 100 farmers are benefitting from the current price of tomatoes,” Mahipal Reddy said, with a sense of exasperation.

G. Sreenivas Kumar, a farmer from CTM village near Madanapalli of Annamayya district in Andhra Pradesh, home to the biggest tomato market in Asia, whose current crop will start yielding in the next 20 days, says prices are certain to fall by then. “Consumers should be willing to pay Rs 20 per kg steadily; only then we won’t have to resort to distress measures. The governments would have looked at our welfare also if we were united,” he said.