Supply-demand cycle: Tomato farmers who stared at losses, now smile at big profits

There are farmers like Ishwar Gayakar from Junnar tehsil of western Maharashtra who claimed to have earned around ₹3 crore by selling tomatoes

Pune: Three months ago, many saw images flashed on television screens about farmers destroying tomatoes on streets as rates that crop fetched was a pittance. Days later, some of them are earning in crores by selling the farm produce as the rate has gone up substantially in the past two months with commodity in short supply.

Ishwar Gayakar felicitated at Narayangaon APMC Market. (HT PHOTO)

There are farmers like Ishwar Gayakar from Junnar tehsil of western Maharashtra who claimed to have earned around ₹3 crore by selling tomatoes. Gaykar cultivated tomatoes on 12 of his 18-acre farm and, in a few months, he managed to sell around 18,000 crates priced between ₹770 to ₹2,300 per crate.

“I have earned ₹3 crore till now since June 11, and still some produce is left to be harvested,” said Gayakar, who along with wife Sonali work in the farm located at a small village in Pachghar.

Gayakar was among many other farmers from Junnar tehsil who had to destroy their produce in April and May this year. “I had to destroy around 2,100 crates as the given rates failed to even recover transportation cost due to glut in market,” he said.

“Few days before, we were getting pittance in return to our produce forcing many farmers to stop growing tomatoes. Now as the demand is high there are very few farmers left with tomatoes, leading to higher demand and short supply,” said Apade.

For these farmers, the input cost has been around 15 per cent of the money they made.

“The crop has brought good fortune to a few farmers, especially those like Gayakar who is taking interest in tomato farming by using modern techniques,” said Sharad Ghongade, secretary, Narayangaon Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC).

According to Ghongade, the rates of tomatoes have increased in wholesale market, starting with ₹1,000 last month to ₹2,300 per crate at the Narayangaon APMC. Each crate contains around 20 kg of tomatoes and the per kg rate for produce has been ₹115 at its peak.

In Maharashtra, the ideal period for tomato cultivation, according to farmers, is April, when the supply exceeded the demand. However, heavy rains during May first week in Maharashtra led to crop loss. “Undeterred by rains, we once again cultivated tomatoes on our land and continued to water the plants in later part of May and June. This helped us grow good quality of tomatoes when overall supply has been less,” said Gaykar.

The higher rates in wholesale market have also pushed prices of tomatoes in retail market where per kilogram is fetching around ₹160 in Pune city, and ₹190 in Nagpur.

While consumers are shelling out more money, only a handful of farmers are benefiting from the situation. Officials from agriculture department has said the plantation of tomatoes in the state has reduced by more than 50% this kharif season as the cultivation came down to 18,438 hectares from over 40,000.

“In the next 7 to 8 days, a clearer picture will emerge on how much tomato is available in farm and on how many hectares,” said state agriculture commissioner Sunil Chavan.

According to agricultural commissionerate, 56-57 hectares of state land is normally under tomato cultivation every year in Maharashtra. However, due to fewer farmers growing tomatoes and erratic rainfall pattern, the current season is expected to produce 10 lakh tonnes of the produce.

Due to unpredictable climate pattern in the past four months, some farmers have shifted from tomatoes to other crops and vegetables. “We were growing tomatoes for last two years, but as the rates dropped at the start of this year and we had to throw away large quantities of tomatoes due to not getting rates in the APMC markets, we stopped growing them. Since last four months we have started cultivating green vegetables, flowers, soybean in our farms,” said Prakash Shinde, a farmer from Usarde village from Ahmednagar district.

Kishore Shantaram Kunjir from Ajanawale village in Junnar taluka was also among those who suffered a heavy loss due to tomato farming this year. “I had taken a farm loan of ₹5 lakh from a private bank and did not get the expected profit from the produce. With the liability to pay back the loan, I stopped tomato farming. I have given my farm to another person for cultivation for this rainy season as I cannot afford to do farming for this year because of my financial condition.”