A sudden price crash has caused huge losses to tomato growers in India's Yadgir district, where many farmers have taken up shade net cultivation in the hope of bettering their returns.
Bhimareddy Rampurahalli (46) of Hattikuni village in Yadgir is one such farmer. He planted around 5,500 tomato saplings on one acre of land under shade net cultivation in January 2016 and received a bumper yield. After seeing the yield, he hoped for a better price. But his hopes were dashed as the price crashed suddenly in the open market. The price of tomato fell to Rs. 5 per kg from Rs. 25 per kg in a month. Meanwhile, buyers offered Rs. 100-Rs. 120 per bag (weighing 20 kg).
Unhappy with this, Bhimareddy Rampurahalli, who was left with no option, has sold around 1,000 kg since the first week of March at low prices. Bhimareddy Rampurahalli invested around Rs. 3.4 million, including for developing the land and installing nets using hi-tech methods. He drilled an extra borewell to meet the water needs of the crop. He also set up a transformer to avoid interruption in power supply. “I made all-out efforts to cultivate the crop with modern techniques. But, even after I got a good yield, the price crash is causing concern,” Bhimareddy Rampurahalli told The Hindu .
He has lost hopes of getting even half the money he invested from the remaining tomato crop.
Bhimareddy Rampurahalli also said that the government has not released the subsidy amount of Rs. 1.7 million, despite reminders sent to the officials.
Satish Kumar, Deputy Director of Horticulture, said that there was no scheme to help farmers who suffer loss owing to price crash of crops taken up under shade net cultivation.
