Not only in Keonjhar, tomato has landed farmers in the State’s entire tomato belt (except Dhenkanal and Ganjam) in a soup as the vegetable’s price is now in the red with its farm gate prices (price at which a farmer sells) crashing to a mere Rs 2.50 to 4.50 a kg. This when the cost of tomato cultivation per acre is around Rs 18,000 to Rs 20,000 and the cost of production for a farmer at this rate boils down to around Rs 5 to Rs 6 per kg.
In the last week of February, the farm gate prices of tomato have fallen to a new low in most regions of the tomato belt. While the prices have crashed to the lowest of Rs 2.50-Rs 3 in Balangir, Mayurbhanj and Bargarh, the prices on an average rule at around Rs 3.50-Rs 4 in Keonjhar. However in other regions like Dhenkanal and Ganjam, the prices have stayed at around Rs 10 and Rs 7, respectively. In Kendrapada, the farm gate prices are ruling at around Rs 5. This reveals how in a majority of the tomato belt farmers are bearing a big loss as they are selling the vegetable below the production cost.
Now, look at the contrast. When farmers are bearing the brunt of distress sale, the farm gate prices of tomato in other vegetable markets in the State rules quite high. For instance in Paralakhemundi, the price is quoted at Rs 20; and in Sambalpur, it is over Rs 11. The reason: When the glut of tomato in vegetable mandis in the tomato belt led to crashing of prices, lesser supply of the vegetable in other districts had kept the prices firm. But adequate cold storage facilities in the tomato belt could have prevented this glut and the resultant price crash.
How hard the inadequate cold storage capacity is pinching the farmers’ income in State is revealed by the Nabard here.
According to a Nabard study on cold storage gap in 2015, Odisha now requires a whopping 30.5 lakh tonne of bulk and distribution hub cold storages vis-a-vis the requirement of over 18 lakh tonne in 2012. Under the National Horticulture Mission (NHM), the State could see coming up of only 89 cold storage units in 2012-15. “The rate is not enthusiastic as building of cold storages under the NHM is demand-driven. Farmer cooperatives should be encouraged with greater incentives to bid for building cold storage units in order to achieve the required target,” observed a senior Nabard official.
It seems the Agriculture Department has not learnt right lessons from potato distress sale two years ago. No meeting on tomato is convened till now. Though Finance Minister Pradip Amat has hiked the State’s contribution under the NHM in the Budget, he didn’t elaborate any vision/incentives to boost cold storage capacity. Rather, the Budget has provisioned only a token allocation of Rs 45 crore to build godowns to address paddy distress sale vis-a-vis over Rs 10 crore for building and publicity alone. The Budget has also failed to allocate any amount for grading of farm produces.