The Madanapalle revenue division, which happens to be the largest tomato growing belt in Asia, is slowly witnessing hike in the arrivals of the produce at the agriculture markets during the last one week. On Sunday, the total arrivals of the stocks at Madanapalle, Palamaner, Punganur and Kalikiri markets stood about 3,000 tonnes.
According to information, the first quality of the tomatoes is sold at ₹8 a kg, while the second quality remained at ₹6.50 a kg. The marketing officials observed that the current pricing was very decent, during the lockdown period. Though the marriages and other auspicious functions are either postponed or performed as low-key affairs, the exports to Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana and northern States have slowly picked up.
In Tamil Nadu, the tomato exports to the Koyambedu market was stopped last month with the spread of coronavirus across the inter-State border.
However, the stocks are sent to others parts of Chennai from the markets in the Chittoor district. It was observed that tomato exports from Madanapalle to Mumbai and New Delhi had touched the lowest level due to heavy presence of red zones there.
Assistant Director (Marketing) P. Gopi told The Hindu that the prospects of tomato growers, which remained hit during the ongoing lockdown period, gradually turned brighter with several measures of relaxation in transport and public movement.
“Though the hotel and event management industries are at present affected by the lockdown, the arrival of tomato stocks to various markets in the district, particularly Madanapalle, has picked up. Despite being Sunday, we received close to 3,000 tonnes today,” the official said.
Referring to the reports of huge losses being suffered by the tomato growers, the marketing official said that it was only the third quality of the product that would fetch low price to the growers. He said that a majority of the farmers of Madanapalle division had now started reaping marginal to decent profits through first and second varieties. “Coming to the third variety, it generally sells at the lowest price. In cases where such category of stocks remains unharvested, that would be left to cattle or left out,” he said.
The official said that the marketing personnel from the government side would always stand by the tomato growers and intervene at the marketing yards to bring decent price for their produce. “When it comes to private markets which deal with moderate stocks, the farmers sometimes face the risk of getting exploited,” Mr. Gopi said.
