Shahdol (Madhya Pradesh):Tomato growers in the Shahdol district in Madhya Pradesh are cursing their fate. The wholesale price of tomatoes nosedived due to surplus production. Aggrieved farmers instead of bringing their produce to wholesale market for selling, have been giving to their friends and relatives free of cost.
Upset over the slump in the market, farmers have begun readying their farmlands for new crops. They started removing tomato plantation from their field. Many farmers were using surplus tomato as fodder for their livestock. "We are not plucking the tomatoes and leaving them to rot in the field. Suppose if we harvest the tomatoes and take the produce to the wholesale market, we will not be able to recover even the plucking cost," said a farmer of Dudhi village in district.
Another farmer Shambhu Patel, "We are giving tomatoes to the people free of cost. If I take the produce to the wholesale market it will hardly fetch just Rs 2 kg per kilo. Farmers are selling tomatoes at the rate of even Rs 1 per kg. The situation is pathetic. So, it is better to distribute among people free of cost. People will remember our generosity."
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"Selling top soil will fetch more money compared to tomatoes. The input cost for cultivating tomato in one acre of land is Rs 60,000 to Rs 70,000. But we are at the receiving after tomato production," Patel added. Sheetesh Jeevan Patel, a farmer belonging to Jhagraha village in the district, said, "I grow vegetables on 25 to 26 acres of land. Instead of selling the produce at a throwaway price, I have started focusing on another vegetable crop. I have removed tomato plantation from the field and started ploughing and levelling work for sowing new crop."
