Threat of theft looms large over farmlands as spiralling price keeps tomatoes away from dining tables

Dharani has debts to be repaid. Additionally, she wants to save some money for the future. The farmer decided to harvest the crop in a couple of days.

However, she did not anticipate a particular fallout of the skyrocketing vegetable prices until it hit her hard on Tuesday, 4 July.

Shattered dreams

Dharani of Somanahalli village at Halebidu taluka in Karnataka’s Hassan district is crestfallen. All her dreams were shattered overnight when someone allegedly stole the tomatoes waiting to be harvested. Besides stealing, the miscreants destroyed the remaining crop as well.

“We were planning to harvest tomatoes in a day or two. Tomatoes have a bumper price in the market at this time. Farmers rarely get good prices for their produce,” she told reporters on Thursday, 6 July.

“The miscreants have not left a single tomato in one farm. They looted around 100 boxes. On another farm, they have destroyed the crop,” she wept.

Dharani was inconsolable. “Each box of tomatoes is priced ₹3,000 to ₹3,200 in the mandi. I even don’t know how much loan we have taken to grow vegetables, including tomatoes.”

The news of the theft spread fast and wide. “People who have given us loans are now coming to my house, demanding their money,” she said.

Dharani has lodged a police complaint. Halebidu Police Sub-Inspector SG Patil said a case has been registered.

“There is no CCTV footage or any evidence. We are probing the incident,” he told South First. The officer said farmers have become alert after the alleged tomato theft.

Dharani’s was not a one-off experience. Incidents of miscreants stealing onions and chillies from farms in north Karnataka were recently reported.

Also read: Skyrocketing vegetable prices devastate general public in South India

Missing tomatoes 

Meanwhile, tomatoes are gradually disappearing from the plates of ordinary people across the country. The soaring prices of vegetables have hit the monthly budget of millions of families.

In Karnataka, tomatoes were selling at around ₹100 to ₹130 a kilogram in the market on Thursday. A week ago, tomatoes were priced between ₹20 to ₹35 per kilogram.

The extended heat conditions and delayed monsoon spiralled the prices of tomatoes to ₹104 per kilogram in several parts of Andhra Pradesh. The price a fortnight ago was around ₹35 a kilogram. Several households are using a dash of tamarind instead of tomatoes in curries.

The Andhra Pradesh government has stepped in to make tomatoes available. It has decided to sell tomatoes at a subsidised rate of ₹50 through Rythu Bazaars across the state.

In Telangana, the tomatoes were retailing at around ₹100 in weekly markets and ₹130 in supermarkets. Similarly, in Tamil Nadu, the tomatoes were priced at ₹110 per kilogram.

Keralites were shelling out ₹105 to ₹150 for a kilogram of tomatoes. Several restaurants that offer a free second serving of vegetable-rich sambar have stopped the practice.

According to rough estimates, Kerala, a consumerist state, requires around 5,479 tonnes of vegetables per day, according to Agriculture Department’s production statistics tabled in the state Assembly in 2021.

Also read: Start-up Farmers FZ is chosen for FAO’s Accelerator Programme

Relief in sight for Telangana

Meanwhile, officials of Telangana’s Horticulture Department anticipated the vegetable prices would go down by July-end.

They attributed the spike in prices to unseasonal rains and extensive crop damage in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra — the primary sources of tomatoes during May and June.

Local farmers in Telangana have planted tomatoes and they would be harvest-ready in 60 to 100 days.  The officials were expecting a decline in prices in the next 15 to 20 days, with the local produce entering the market.

Markets in Hyderabad city have been sourcing tomatoes from districts such as Ranga Reddy, Vikarabad, Medchal Malkajgiri, Mahabubnagar, and others.