Tomato price crash triggers farmer angst, farm ministry starts transport subsidy

Wholesale rates of tomato have slid 80% over the past couple of weeks in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, and are selling for ₹8-10 a kg

NEW DELHI: Tomato prices have crashed to their lowest levels in more than a year in producer states, after record high prices pinched consumers in 2023 and 2024, a familiar cycle of volatility that afflicts mostly perishables.

Labourers pluck tomatoes and collect them in a basket from fields for sale in Nagpur in January 2025. (ANI FILE)

Wholesale rates of the vegetable have slid more than 80% over the past couple of weeks in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, selling for ₹8-10 a kilo, farmers said, while the cost of production ranges between ₹12-14 a kilo, depending on the size of farm and where it is grown, according to a 2022 analysis by the National Horticulture Board.

The farm-gate crash in prices has led to unrest among growers, many of who are dumping their produce and using them to feed cattle because transporting the harvest to mandis (markets) means incurring more losses.

“I grew tomatoes and didn’t go for a second crop since the rates were very good last year. The rates began falling since December and now it’s untenable to even transport my harvest to the market. We have demanded compensation from the government,” said Santosh Mahle, a farmer and a member of the Vashi Shetkari Sangathana.

Given the magnitude of the fall in prices, the agriculture ministry has decided to invoke a provision in its market intervention scheme to support farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka, among others, an official said on Thursday.

“In view of the falling prices of tomato in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other major producing states, the government of India has decided to implement the transportation component under the MIS scheme in cases where there is a difference in the price of TOP crops (tomato, onion and potato) between the producing and consuming states,” the official said.

Under the scheme, the operational cost incurred in storage and transportation of tomato from producing states to consuming states will be “reimbursed to central agencies like NAFED and NCCF, in the interest of farmers of producing states”, the official added.

Yet, administrative support measures are not really effective, either during gluts or during periods of scarcity.

“It is difficult to provide price support for horticulture farmers due to the perishable nature of produce. The solutions are more long-term, such as investments in food processing, cold storages, from farmer producer organizations to agriculture produce market committees and technology to increase shelf life,” said Siraj Hussain, former Union agriculture secretary.

What precipitated this crisis?

In July 2023, the average price of tomato reached a record ₹199 a kg from around ₹30 in April. The roots of the price spiral in vegetables during 2023 and the year before go back to late kharif season in 2022, when poor rains and leaf-curl disease lowered yields and output of many leafy vegetables.

A dip in production then shifted demand towards onion, potato and onion, a reason for higher prices of these items, according to a government report in July last year. Higher rates led more farmers to grow tomatoes in states such as Maharashtra, leading to the current glut.