Hyderabad: Farmers, who have earned crores from agriculture, are rare. But, skyrocketing prices of tomatoes across the country made two farmers crorepatis within a month. According to reports, Tukaram Bhagoji Gayakar from the Pune district of Maharashtra cultivated tomatoes on 12 acres. Due to proper cultivation of the crop, the yield has been good. With this, within a month, he earned more than Rs 1.50 crore. Each box was sold at the rate of Rs 2,100 in the Narayanganj market. On Friday, he sold around 900 boxes and earned Rs 18 lakhs.
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Similarly, Arun Sahu of Biran village in the Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh cultivated tomatoes on 150 acres and sold 600 to 700 boxes per day. He earned more than Rs 1 crore during this month. Sahu, who studied higher education, entered this field with a passion for agriculture. Of late, the educated are venturing into organic farming and earning good money, unlike earlier days when agriculture was not considered lucrative when compared to other avenues. And now, it seems they are making hay as the tomato prices are hitting the roof.
Meanwhile, anecdotes related to tomato prices are being posted on social media after its price spiralled. Interestingly, a video of a vegetable vendor hiring bouncers in Varanasi of Uttar Pradesh went viral. He reportedly said that he hired them to protect tomatoes from being stolen. While another vendor installed a CCTV camera to protect the tomatoes. The price of tomatoes per kg is being sold for Rs 160 in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana while in the rest of the country, too, it has become dearer.
