Tomatoes and onions are burning a hole in your pocket. Here’s why
Aug 6, 2017, 12:56 IST
It’s not happening for the first time. But tomatoes and onions get expensive price tags in August and continue till the autumn breeze touches the subcontinent. And this year, tomatoes are already selling at Rs 70 a kilo in wholesale markets, which means it will touch Rs 120- Rs 140 when it reaches retail market.
So is the case with onions. Having touched Rs 30 a kilo at wholesale markets, you can expect to buy those for Rs 70 or more.
"There's not enough supply,” Vandana Vilas Temkar, one the very few women traders in Narayangaon tomato market told the Economic Times. "Early last week, we were buying tomatoes at Rs 1,600 per crate. Now it has softened a bit. Farmers are now selling to us in Rs 900-1,200 range."
The onion supply has also been hit. From 3.04 lakh tonnes in June, it has become 2.8 lakh tonnes in July, according to National Horticulture Board data.
While onions may keep hovering at a high rate, tomatoes may cost a bit less once once fresh produce from Lasalgaon, Pimpalgaon, Nashik and Dindori hit the market in the third week of August.
So what’s ailing the farmers in India and burning a hole in your pocket? Well experts say, lower prices, weak supply chains, depleting yield, poor quality seeds and seedlings, climate change have all spurred them to switch crops for good, from decades of cultivating tomatoes to sugarcane, maize, soya, cauliflower, even grapes.
"The government has not developed infrastructure to help farmers producing perishable vegetables. This is one reason why you see glut-and-shortage situations at regular intervals," Pritam Kalia, emeritus scientist (vegetable sciences), Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) told ET.
In 2015-16, tomato growers started using 1057, a seed variety bio-engineered by an MNC. This was later proven to be susceptible to virus attacks.
"It started 'the tiranga' virus that bore coloured patches on the fruit. A good portion of our crop was destroyed then," Gadhave told ET.
"Pesticides and insecticides are not helping us. These pests and viruses have turned immune to the medicines we spray on them. Tomato crops are usually attacked by whiteflies, red mites and gram pod borers. One of the reasons for frequent pestilence is the recurring crop pattern adopted by farmers. In places like Narayangaon, farmers have been growing tomatoes for close to three decades now. The pests have got entrenched in the crop cycle,” he added.
What seed companies need to do is to find heat-tolerant seeds so that the fewer monsoons in India shouldn’t be a factor. Also India exports tomatoes to Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. Traders have to fulfil pre-arranged orders before filling up local mandis; this, too, impacted domestic distribution.
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So is the case with onions. Having touched Rs 30 a kilo at wholesale markets, you can expect to buy those for Rs 70 or more.
"There's not enough supply,” Vandana Vilas Temkar, one the very few women traders in Narayangaon tomato market told the Economic Times. "Early last week, we were buying tomatoes at Rs 1,600 per crate. Now it has softened a bit. Farmers are now selling to us in Rs 900-1,200 range."
The onion supply has also been hit. From 3.04 lakh tonnes in June, it has become 2.8 lakh tonnes in July, according to National Horticulture Board data.
While onions may keep hovering at a high rate, tomatoes may cost a bit less once once fresh produce from Lasalgaon, Pimpalgaon, Nashik and Dindori hit the market in the third week of August.
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"The government has not developed infrastructure to help farmers producing perishable vegetables. This is one reason why you see glut-and-shortage situations at regular intervals," Pritam Kalia, emeritus scientist (vegetable sciences), Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) told ET.
In 2015-16, tomato growers started using 1057, a seed variety bio-engineered by an MNC. This was later proven to be susceptible to virus attacks.
"It started 'the tiranga' virus that bore coloured patches on the fruit. A good portion of our crop was destroyed then," Gadhave told ET.
"Pesticides and insecticides are not helping us. These pests and viruses have turned immune to the medicines we spray on them. Tomato crops are usually attacked by whiteflies, red mites and gram pod borers. One of the reasons for frequent pestilence is the recurring crop pattern adopted by farmers. In places like Narayangaon, farmers have been growing tomatoes for close to three decades now. The pests have got entrenched in the crop cycle,” he added.
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What seed companies need to do is to find heat-tolerant seeds so that the fewer monsoons in India shouldn’t be a factor. Also India exports tomatoes to Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. Traders have to fulfil pre-arranged orders before filling up local mandis; this, too, impacted domestic distribution.