Tomato price to remain high for at least a month

Farmers said tomatoes do not need much water and the intense rain has damaged the crop. The Koyambedu wholesale vegetable market is currently selling Bangalore tomatoes for Rs 100 a kg and regular tomatoes for Rs 90 to Rs 95. 

The market has been receiving only 44 loads of tomatoes—each truck carries 10 tonnes.

“Currently, we are getting vegetables from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. From Hosur and Krishnagiri, we are getting fewer than 10 truckloads. It would take more than a month for the prices and supply to normalise,” said M Thiagarajan, president, Koyambedu Wholesale Tomato Traders Association.

The tomato season starts in October or November, especially in the Western Ghats districts of Tamil Nadu. The northeast monsoon also began at the same time. 

The State had never faced a shortage of tomatoes in the past three years.

“Usually, the onion season lasts only three months. But this year, it has been extended to 4.5 months because of intense rainfall as onion cultivation needs more water. With the lack of rainfall in the past two years, there was a supply-demand gap for onion. Normally, we used to get at least 10 tonnes of tomatoes a day, but this year it was difficult to get 2 tonnes,” said Padmanathan Muthuraj, a farmer at Sivagamipuram in Tenkasi.

Dr KM Shiva Kumar, professor of agricultural economics, Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, said the price of tomatoes will increase two times a year—summer and monsoon—because they do not need too much sunlight or rainfall. The farmers have been advised to cultivate tomatoes in places that are not much affected by climatic changes, such as Karur and Dindigul.