Farmers Movement Archive

Nashik: Wholesale tomato price crashes to Rs 2.5/kg at Pimpalgaon APMC

NASHIK: The average wholesale price of tomatoes at the Pimpalgaon APMC — the country’s largest wholesale tomato market — further crashed from Rs 4.50 per kg to Rs 2.55 per kg over the past 10 days. Balasaheb Bajare, the secretary of the Pimpalgaon APMC, said there has been a huge rise in supply. However, the demand has not kept up. As a result, there has been a further drop in the average wholesale price. The situation will continue to remain the same for at least the next few days, he said. Currently, around 3 lakh crates of tomatoes have been coming into the markets across Nashik district every day. Out of the 3 lakh crates, more than 2.25 lakh crates come into the Pimpalgaon APMC alone. Each crate contains around 20 kg of the produce. “There has been good production of tomatoes this year, but the demand in the domestic market is comparatively low. Moreover, the quality is not very good. All these factors have had an impact on the wholesale prices,” Bajare said. The minimum and maximum wholesale prices of tomatoes have been recorded at Rs 2.55 per kg and Rs 7.5 per kg, respectively, while the average wholesale price was Rs 2.5 per kg. The farmers are still dumping the produce to protest against the crash in prices. The Centre has already sent a letter to the state government, asking it to utilise the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) for the benefit of the tomato farmers, but the state government is yet to take a call on the matter. According to sources in the Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board (MSAMB), it is a policy decision to be taken by the state government. Uttam Avhad, a tomato farmer, said he has incurred heavy losses. “We should get at least Rs 13 per kg to make production and transportation viable. But I had to dump the produce on the market premises as I was getting only Rs 2 per kg a few days ago. I was not even able to pay the transport costs,” he said. Ajit Navale, the general secretary of the All-India Kisan Sabha (AIMS), said “Tomato farmers are going through a bad phase. Both the central and state governments have not taken any cognizance of this and have not made efforts to provide relief to the farmers.” “We had sought the immediate relief of Rs 50,000 per acre for the tomato farmers, but the Centre and the state have ignored our demand. The entire tomato season has been a waste. The Centre should have made efforts to remove the obstacles in the export of tomatoes to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. But that has not happened,” he added.

The Times of India

2021-09-06

Nashik