Even as the chilli growing farmers in Telangana were in a deep distress over the low price for their produce, the tomato growers in Chittoor district in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh were also facing a worse crisis.
In Asia’s biggest tomato market in Chittoor the prices have crashed to such an extent that the distressed farmers preferred to throw away their produce on the roads than transporting it to the market as the traders were not willing to pay more than Rs 1 per kg to them. The highest price for good quality tomato being offered was Rs 5 per kg.
“This is a grave injustice. This will not be sufficient to even recover our input cost leave alone transport and other expenses,” said Raji Reddy, a farmer in Madanapally, one of the major tomato producing centres.
“This has become a regular annual feature. When the going is good we get the price up to Rs 20 to 30 per kg depending upon the quality but when there is a flood of produce the prices crash like it happened now,” said Shaikh Samdani, another farmer.
Officials say March to August is the season of tomato business but this year the crop was so good that every day 500 ton tomato was reaching the Chittoor market and it was likely to further increase to 1000 tons per day
Another blow to the farmers was the low interest from the buyers from other States. The traders from as far as Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana and other northern States as well as Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand used to come to Chittoor market to buy tomatoes but this year their numbers have dwindled. On the other hand tomato farmers from other districts of Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring Karnataka were also bringing their stock to Chittoor market.
While the farmers were facing the woes due to the cyclical pressure and market fluctuation the traders and the middlemen were making it rich as the benefits of the low price hardly reaches the retail customers and the tomato was still commanding a price of Rs 30 to 50 per kg in the big cities and towns.
As a long term solution to the growers of perishable goods many experts had recommended setting up a chain of cold storage and food processing units several years ago but farmers say nothing has moved on the ground.
State’s Minister for food processing industry Amarnath Reddy said that the Government has sanctioned four food parks at Vijianagaram, Visakhapatanam, Nellore and Chittoor. “This will help the tomato growers of Chittoor and chilli growers of Guntur,” he said. But for the tomato farmers first it is the question of immediate survival and the future remains a dream.
TRAGEDY IN TElANGANA
To what extent the farmers were dependent on the vagaries of weather and uncertainties of market fluctuation is illustrated by the tragedy of Dasari Chinna Gangaram, a 65 year old Turmeric farmer from Ibrahimpatnam village in Jagatiyal.
The distressed and heartbroken farmer died in Nizamabad market yard when the commission agents told him that his produce will get a price of not more than Rs 4,880 per quintal. “But this will not be suffice to even to recover the cost of raising the crop,” he told the agents and his farmer friends before braking down with helplessness.
Much to the heartbreak of farmers the price of turmeric has crashed from Rs 7800 per quintal to Rs 5000 or below now. While other farmers decided to sell at the offered price and they had no other option, Gangaram with farmers of his village slept in the market yard on Tuesday night. In the morning his friends found him dead lying over the bags of turmeric. The infuriated farmers went on rampage ransacking the property and also attacked the porters injuring one seriously.
The local TRS MP K Kavitha contacted the district collector and other officials and directed them to help the deceased farmer's family. She also contacted her father and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and sought help for the family.
The State Government has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 50,000 to the family. Such tragedies continue to unfold even as Centre has announced minimum support price of Rs 5,000 per quintal for Chilli and an additional help of Rs 1,250 per quintal. The move came after the chilli price in Telangana markets crashed from Rs 12,000 per quintal to Rs 4,000 triggering a major crisis and widespread among the farmers.