Tomato prices: When growers too see red

With over 8,000 hectares under tomato cultivation, Junnar is a major hub for cultivation of the vegetable. The availability of water availability from five dams — including the one at Yedgaon on the Kukadi river — allows its farmers to plant the crop during January-February or even March-April for marketing in April-June and right up to August. This is unlike in most parts of India — even major tracts such as Niphad, Satana and Surgana in Nashik — where tomatoes are planted mainly during the kharif season in June-July after the southwest monsoon rains.

“We grow tomatoes during January-April because our taluka has enough water even in summer. Also, this crop fetches better prices than the one planted in kharif and sold in winter”, points out Bhise. The assurance of high prices in summer — the last season was clearly an aberration — also induces farmers to invest more, resulting in average yields of 26-28 tonnes per acre, as against 18-20 tonnes for the kharif tomato.

While transplanting of the summer-sale tomatoes starts from mid-January, the sowing of nurseries to raise seedlings happens about 25 days before along with field preparation. The cost of tilling and making raised beds, on which the uprooted saplings are planted, alone costs roughly Rs 5,000 per acre. Tilling is followed by application of 10 tonnes of cow-dung worth some Rs 24,000 and, subsequently, four bags each of di-ammonium phosphate and micronutrients and six bags of anti-nematode insecticides, costing another Rs 11,000 per acre.

Tomato growers also incur capital investment expenses on drip irrigation, staking and plastic mulching. Drip irrigation entails a one-time investment of up to Rs 50,000 in pipes and motors, besides yearly maintenance costs of Rs 3,000. The string trellis structure — basically bamboo stakes and wires to support the tomato plants — likewise involves a one-time cost of Rs 25,000. This structure can last for five years; Junnar’s farmers use it during kharif for growing creeper vegetables like cucumber, pumpkin and round gourd. In plastic mulching, the top soil of the raised beds is covered using special-grade paper sheets that help reduce soil moisture loss and also suppress weed growth. Around eight bundles of paper are required to cover an acre and the entire cost, including that of labour, comes to Rs 10,000-plus.

In transplantation, the major cost — Rs 8,000 or so per acre — is of the saplings itself; there are farmers who specialise in raising the tomato seedlings and selling it to other growers. But the real expenditure is in chemicals. Vikram Bhise, a two-acre farmer from Yedgaon, specifically mentions two insecticides, chlorantraniliprole and cyantraniliprole — both patented molecules of the American chemical giant DuPont and sold under the brands of Voliam Flexi and Benevia, respectively — that are used to control fruit borer and sucking pests such as whitefly, aphids and thrips. A single 200-ml spray of the former costs Rs 1,100, while two applications of the latter a month after transplantation will require an expenditure of Rs 8,000 per acre.

Farmers also spend Rs 6,000 in ‘drenching’ (wetting) their crop four times — the first one two days after transplantation and the last one just before harvesting — in a plant growth promoter solution of copper and humic acid. Besides, they spray a combination of fungicides, insecticides and growth promoters after fruit formation. Each of these sprays — there are four of them — cost Rs 8,000. Then comes harvesting, in which the first picking of tomatoes takes place 60-65 days after transplantation. In all, there are 20-odd pickings from a single crop, with each such round — five or more labourers are needed to harvest and pack the produce in 20-kg crates — entailing an expense of Rs 2,000-2,100 per acre.

“Adding all costs, I would be spending at least Rs 1.5 lakh to cultivate an acre of tomato for

“Adding all costs, I would be spending at least Rs 1.5 lakh to cultivate an acre of tomato for summer sale. Kharif tomato production costs are much lower, at Rs 70,000-80,000 per acre,” says Vikram Bhise. The only reason why Junnar’s farmers are willing to invest twice the money in growing summer tomatoes is the returns from higher prices.

“All these years, we got Rs 10-15 per kg by selling in April-June. Even at Rs 10, the net profit on a yield of 26 tonnes worked out to Rs one lakh or more per acre. This is the first time I have actually lost money by selling at Rs 5/kg,” complains Deepak Bhise. This farmer, too, lost interest in maintaining the crop on his two-acre holding in Yedgaon, when prices remained subdued for an extended period. The result: He could harvest just 20 tonnes. And he has no tomatoes to sell now, when ruling prices at Junnar are Rs 50 per kg.