Maharashtra: Tomato hits Rs 80 a kg & onion strikes half century, skewing home budgets

MUMBAI/NASHIK: The retail price of onion hit Rs Rs 50 per kg citywide this week. Another kitchen staple, the humble tomato, has come to be priced at Rs 70-80 per kg. Traders blame excess rainfall and Cyclone Gulab for crop shortage. They say rates will drop marginally only around November 15 and normalise in December.
Within just 40 days, from a wholesale rate of Rs 2.50 a kg in the first week of September, tomato now costs Rs 25 a kg at Pimpalgaon, Nashik—India's largest tomato wholesale market.Heavy rainfall in September and the cyclone reportedly left hectares of fields damaged in Nashik and Kolhapur.
Goregaon resident Asavari Joshi said, “Amid the fasting season of Navratra when consumption is low, I find it surprising that prices have risen so high.”
Tomato wholesaler Mangal Gupta said, “Prices are commonly higher by 20% in September-October, but this month due to heavy unseasonal rains there is severe loss of crop so rates are high. They will reduce within 15 to 20 days as harvesting of the new crop which was planted in September will start.” Gupta added, “Due to excessive rain, a disease called early blight and late blight has destroyed the tomato crop in Solapur, Nashik, Satara and Pune districts.’
APMC director Ashok Walunj of the onion-potato market said, “Heavy rain and flooding in Maharashtra has caused onion to wilt. The wholesale price is Rs 35-38 per kg and retail is at Rs 50. We expect a slight fall after Diwali and total normality in December.”
Walunj termed this “an act of nature that nobody can control”.
Another APMC director Shankar Pingale of the vegetable market pointed to crop failure of tomato owing to excessive rain. “There is a vast shortage of tomato nationwide. At present, the wholesale rate in Vashi ranges from Rs 30-45 per kg, depending on grade. Rates will reduce only after November 15 once the new crop is harvested.”
APMC trader Balasaheb Badade said onion prices will remain high through the festive season. “Rates will drop only after Diwali. Harvesting of fresh crops has been delayed, besides substantial damage to the buffer stock that has a shorter shelf life,” he said.
Just recently in September, farmers in Nashik and Aurangabad had dumped tomatoes on the road in protest after wholesale rates plummeted to Rs 2-3 per kg. They are ruing their stance.
Somnath Kulagi, farmer from Jat tehsil of Sangli district, had dumped the tomatoes outside the mandi as wholesale prices dropped to Rs 1.5 per kg. Now, he is being called by traders to check if he has any produce in the farm. Somnath had destroyed all tomato crop and taken up chilli cultivation. “It was for the first time that I suffered heavy losses. Now, when I see the tomatoes are fetching such a good price, I feel my decision to destroy the crop was wrong. I would have made up for the loss I faced then,” he told TOI. (With BB Nayak in Navi Mumbai)