What has climate change to do with tomato prices ?

While he managed to keep his crop alive, his yields took a hit—from 70 tonnes per acre, Gholap saw his yield fall to 40 tonnes. “My practices are some of the best in the region. Others reported yields as low as 20-30 tonnes/acre,” he said.

Thus, even if tomato retails at Rs 4,000-4,500/quintal at the local Narayangaon’ wholesale market, farmers have little reason to rejoice. Low yield and increased cost of production wiped out most of the profits they were supposed to make.

Along with other vegetables, the price of tomato in most retail markets of the country is above Rs 70/kg. This price escalation started in May and if trade sources are to be believed, it is expected to stay till the next few weeks. Lower than expected arrivals at the markets, traders say, is the reason for this price rise. At Pune’s wholesale market, tomato prices are between Rs 50-60/kg, a steep rise from Rs 30-40/kg a few months ago.

Farmers like Gholap blame this price rise on increased summer heat. Deepak Bhise, another farmer from Junnar who heads the Tomato Growers Association of the area, said between March to May this year, they witnessed unusually high temperatures. “For more than 45 days, temperatures crossed the 40 degrees Celsius mark. Tomato as a crop is unable to withstand such heat,” he said. The heat brought with it side effects which farmers were ill prepared to deal with.

“Tomato is grown over raised beds and in order to conserve moisture, we cover the beds with mulching paper and install drip irrigation. As temperatures soared, we increased the frequency of irrigation which led to moisture being trapped near the root zone. The hot and humid conditions made the plant susceptible to fungal attacks. Our expenditure on fungicides doubled this year,” said Gholap.

Lower than usual yields and higher cost of production saw most growers record losses. For tomato growers in Junnar, the crop is slowly becoming unsustainable from the economic point of view. “The effect of climate change is pronounced in our area…summer temperatures had never been this high,” said Gholap. The summer of 2024, as per IMD, was one of the hottest in recorded history.

Bhise said most farmers in their area are looking for alternatives. “Sugarcane seems like a good option for now with the area under the crop increasing rapidly,” he said. Farmers say a heat tolerant variety of tomato would help them survive the effects of climate change but such a variety is not available in the market.