Tomato farmers in crisis as prices crash to Rs 2-5 per kg at farm level

Tomato, burning a hole in consumers' pockets until a few weeks ago, has now become a cause of loss for farmers. Farmers are struggling to recover costs due to falling prices in tomato-producing areas of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Telangana, and Odisha. The price of tomatoes has dropped to Rs 2-5 per kg at the farm level, while in the retail market, tomato is being sold at Rs 15-20 per kg.

According to the Department of Consumer Affairs, the average wholesale price of tomatoes in the country has declined by 39.47 percent in the past month, while the average retail price has fallen by 36.06 percent. This is the national average, but in tomato-producing areas, farm-level prices have plummeted even further.

Due to price crash, farmers are uprooting and discarding their tomato crops rather than transporting to market, as the cost of transportation exceeds the selling price. A recent video from Sehore, Madhya Pradesh, captured this distressing scenario. Farmers in several districts, including Shahdol, Satna, and Sehore, are facing this crisis. Similarly, in Odisha's Ganjam district, tomato farmers receive only Rs 3-5 per kg. The situation is so dire that, faced with such low prices, many farmers are reluctant to invest in harvesting.

Shyamdev Singh, a farmer from Sehore district in Madhya Pradesh, says that recovering the cost of tomato cultivation has become nearly impossible this year. It costs around Rs 30,000-40,000 to cultivate tomatoes on one acre, yet market rates have fallen to Rs 2-3 per kg—barely covering labour and transport costs. As a result, many farmers are abandoning their crops in the fields.

The main reason behind this crisis is a bumper harvest. According to the Ministry of Agriculture’s advance estimates for horticulture production in 2024-25, tomato production is expected to reach 215.49 lakh tonnes, up from approximately 213.23 lakh tonnes last year. While this surplus benefits the government and consumers, it has become a nightmare for farmers.

A similar situation occurred two years ago when tomato farmers abandoned their crops or dumped them in frustration, only for prices to soar to Rs 100 per kg by May-June. Could history repeat itself? Tomatoes are highly perishable, and storage facilities remain inadequate.

This crisis also underscores the failure of the Central Government’s Operation Greens (TOP Scheme), launched in 2018 to shield potato, onion, and tomato farmers from price fluctuations. The scheme aimed to develop infrastructure and value chains for cold storage, packaging, sorting, grading, and processing. In 2021-22, it was expanded to cover 22 perishable crops and rebranded as the TOP to Total scheme. However, questions remain about its effectiveness in safeguarding potato, onion, and tomato farmers.

For the 2025-26 financial year, the central government has announced a Rs 500 crore Mission for Vegetables and Fruits. However, past experiences suggest that such initiatives primarily focus on protecting consumers from high prices rather than safeguarding farmers from price crashes.