As the tomato prices surged manifold during the past couple of weeks, consumers are shying away from buying the produce. From its recent low of Rs 10 per kg in the wholesale market, the price of the commodity jumped to Rs 100 to Rs 120 per kg on Saturday, spoiling consumers’ budgets. People are now struggling to understand the logic behind the steep rise.

 

 

Against this backdrop, ‘The Hitavada’ attempted to highlight the distribution channel of the commodity - from the farm to our plates. When 32 year-old truck driver Mufid Khan starts his journey from Madanapalle in Annamayya district of Andhra Pradesh, his only goal is to reach the destination at the earliest and deliver the agri produce he carries in his heavy vehicle. So he skips as many stoppages as he can on the approximately 1,250 km long route.

After loading the perishable agri-produce in his truck from the Madanapalle mandi, Mufid Khan and his colleague (additional driver) start the journey at about 11 pm. On the way, the drivers manage their lunch and dinner in a stipulated time. They also manage to sleep briefly in a small cabin, obviously on the rapidly moving truck.

Finally, after the long 24-hour journey, they reach Nagpur’s Kalamana market and deliver the agri produce that has recently gained immense significance -- the tomatoes.

 

“Conditions have dramatically changed for tomato farming, and have its prices. Till last month, the total cost of 800 to 850 crates I carried in the truck was something between Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000. But today, the total price of the same quantity has surpassed Rs 20 lakh mark and thus we cannot take any chance to miss the delivery deadline,” said Mufid Khan, explaining the rationale behind saving the journey time.

While interacting with ‘The Hitavada’ on Saturday morning, Mufid Khan said he brought the truck full of tomatoes mainly grown in farms in Annamayya district. “A broker based in the Madanapalle mandi, for whom I am working, sources these tomatoes from the local farmers at a rate of Rs 60 to Rs 100. The broker then supplies it to various markets in the country from Jammu to Kolkata and from Delhi to Ahmedabad,” he said.

 

The Madanapalle-based supplier bore the transportation cost of Rs 85,000 (roughly Rs 100 per crate). Mufid Khan reached the Kalamna market at 11 pm on Friday and delivered the consignment to Rizwan Sheikh, owner of Taj Sabji Bhandar. Rizwan is one among the 16 to 18 main brokers who sell tomatoes on behalf of the suppliers. Soon after arrival of the truck, Rizwan received the 850 tomato crates, unloaded and fixed its price depending on the size and colour. Riwan and all other 16-18 main brokers sell tomatoes only to main wholesalers in crates and normally they do not entertain buyers who demand less than 5 crates. Each crate contains 25 kg tomatoes. The main brokers start selling tomatoes from 3 am soon after the arrival of the commodity. Before finalising the selling price, they carefully judge the market conditions, especially the total quantity of tomatoes arrived.

 

“Today, we received only 11 trucks of tomatoes against the requirement of 30-35 trucks. This has created a huge gap in demand and supply and hence the prices are at its all time high,” he said. In the current situation, there are mainly three varieties of tomatoes arriving in the market - Hybrid, Desi and Goli. On Saturday, the main brokers sold Hybrid variety at a price of Rs 2,800 per crate, Desi at Rs 2,400 per crate and Goli at a price of Rs 2,200 per crate to second level wholesalers. In the meanwhile Rizwan remembered selling tomatoes procured from local farmers at a throw away price of Rs 50 per kg in January, 2023. The main brokers finish selling tomatoes by 6 am. Following this, wholesalers like Sunil Jadhav start selling the agri produce to retailers. Jadhav sold Hybrid variety at a price of Rs 3,000 per crate, Desi at Rs 2,600 per crate and Goli at a price of Rs 2,400 per crate to retailers. Further, the retailers offered these tomatoes to the end consumers across the city at a price range of Rs 140 to Rs 160 per kg.