Unstable prices a worry for Haryana’s tomato growers

Tribune News Service

Parveen Arora

Karnal, May 16

Unstable prices of tomatoes and the lack of processing units and cold storage facilities have become a challenge for tomato growers, who adopted crop diversification by switching to vegetable cultivation. Besides, due to the poor market system, farmers are left at the mercy of private players, who buy their produce at their own prices that are fixed on a daily basis, the farmers claim.

“Tomato is a perishable crop and we cannot hold it for more than two to three days in the open. Its prices are also not stable. If we have a cold chain, we can stock it for up to 10 days and can sell it when we get good prices. Private players are taking advantage of this situation, forcing us to sell the produce at throwaway prices,” says Vikas Rana, a tomato grower of Ganger village.

At present, a crate containing 25 kg tomato is being sold between Rs 100 and Rs 150, while earlier, it was sold at Rs 300-325 per crate, he adds.

Highlighting his concern, Sidharth, another tomato grower of Indri area, says due to the poor market system, farmers are not availing the benefits of Bhavantar Bharpai Yojana of the state government as the Karnal vegetable market is the only platform where farmers can sell their produce and get ‘J’ form to get the difference between the price on which tomato is sold and the price fixed by the government. The private players are not registered with the marketing board and they cannot issue the form, due to which they cannot avail of the benefits.

“If we have a cold chain, we will have the option to enquire about the rates in other vegetable markets of the region, so that we can sell our produce there,” says Deepak, who considers fluctuation in weather another challenge for the tomato crop. Crop diseases are also causing losses to them.

Rambir Rana, another farmer, says cold storage has been a long-pending demand of the farmers.

According to Madan Lal, District Horticulture Officer (DHO), tomato has been produced on around 2,300 acres in two crop seasons in the district. “The government is providing cold chain and processing unit facilities for individual farmers as well as for farmer-producer organisations (FPOs) on subsidy, for which farmers and FPOs can apply,” he says, adding that, so far, only one FPO has set up a processing unit and cold chain for tomatoes.