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Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, said the prices are expected to stabilize in the next 15 days.
The price of tomato has crossed 100 in many places across the country. The rising prices of tomatoes are having a huge impact on the common man’s pocket. Meanwhile, the government said on Friday that prices are expected to stabilize in the next 15 days.
Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs said that the prices will start falling once the crops start coming from Sirmaur and Solan. He has sought suggestions from the people to control the rate of tomatoes and to make tomatoes available to the people throughout the year.
Tomato Grand Challenge (TGC) Hackathon has also been started regarding this. Students, research scholars and others can send their suggestions on the website of the Consumer Affairs Department. Further strategy will be prepared on good suggestions. His idea will be implemented on a large scale.
Tomato prices will start coming down after the arrival of the crop from Himachal
Rohit told that after the arrival of crop from Himachal Pradesh, the prices of tomatoes will start coming down in Delhi. Tomato prices are expected to stabilize completely by August. Tomato prices always go up at this time of the year.
This year, the prices have gone up due to bad weather conditions and supply issues. Heavy rains have affected the tomato crop in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
On May 19, tomato was bid for one rupee per kg in the market.
On May 19 this year, farmers had come to sell their tomatoes at the Krishi Upaj Mandi in Nashik. Tomato was bid at Re 1 per kg in the mandi. Instead of selling the tomatoes in the market, many farmers had left by throwing tomatoes on the road. After a month, the price of tomato had gone up to Rs 110 per kg.
4 reasons due to which the prices of tomatoes are skyrocketing…
1. Heavy rains are the biggest reason for the current high prices of tomatoes. Tomato is a perishable vegetable. That’s why its continuous supply is necessary. For the past few days, southern states including Karnataka, Telangana along with some hilly states have also received heavy rains. This has damaged the tomato crop and disrupted the supply.
Ashok Ganor, a tomato trader at Delhi’s Azadpur wholesale market, said that the tomato plants on the ground were damaged during the recent rains. Only those plants that stand on the stars survived. That is, the supply was affected due to the damage to the crops, hence the prices have increased.
2. This time the tomato crop sown in rabi season i.e. December-January was hit by the heat. In South India, due to this, leaf curl virus in tomato has caused a lot of damage to its crops. Cucumber virus attacks were observed in Maharashtra due to short winter and extreme heat in March-April. Due to this the tomato plants dried up.
CR Srinath, who runs a mandi in Kolar, Karnataka, says that the tomato crop in the state was damaged due to the whitefly pest. Due to this there was a decrease in the supply of tomatoes.
3. In March-April this year, the farmers associated with tomato cultivation were in for a shock. The average price of tomato in March in the wholesale market was Rs 5 to 10 per kg. Whereas in April it was around Rs 5 to 15 per kg. In May, farmers were forced to sell at between Rs 2.50 and Rs 5 per kg.
Ajit Korde, a tomato grower from Mirewadi village in Phaltan taluka of Satara district, said many farmers had left their crops in the field due to the fall in prices. Due to this, fewer tomatoes came in the market.
4. The farmers, who were facing losses for the last two years, reduced the sowing of tomato this time. Vegetable Traders Association general secretary Anil Malhotra said that there was a bumper crop of tomatoes in 2020 and 2021 and farmers had to dump their produce due to low prices.