<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Thousands of farmers in Jharkhand are in deep crisis after the price of tomatoes plummeted to as low as ₹2 - ₹3 per kg. They have now abandoned their tomato crops, leaving them to rot in the fields.&nbsp;</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">In some areas, wholesale buyers are unwilling to pay even ₹1 per kilogram, making it impossible for farmers to recover their investment.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Faced with mounting losses, several farmers have resorted to destroying their ripe crops with tractors.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Large-scale cultivators as well as small ones have suffered huge losses running into lakhs, as tomato farming communities span thousands of acres across various districts of Jharkhand like Chatra, Latehar, Hazaribagh, Jamshedpur, Ramgarh, Bokaro, Ranchi, Lohardaga, and Giridih.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Prices have been in free fall since January. Even in the retail market, tomatoes are fetching no more than ₹5-₹10 per kg.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The cost of labour and transportation is more than what farmers earn from the sale of their produce.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Sonaram Manjhi, a farmer from Patamda in East Singhbhum district, says a crate of 40-50 kg of tomatoes is being sold for just ₹30-₹35 in the wholesale market, not even ₹1 per kg.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Raghunath Mahato from Chatra adds that the returns don&rsquo;t even cover the cost of planting and irrigation. &ldquo;It takes ₹35,000-₹40,000 to cultivate one acre of tomatoes, but at current prices, we are losing ₹8,000-₹10,000 per acre,&rdquo; he laments.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Pachchu Mahato from Balumath in Latehar shares a similar plight. "We bought expensive seeds and spent heavily on fertilisers and irrigation, yet buyers refuse to pay more than a few rupees per kg," he said.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The crisis is not new. Last year, farmers in Barkagaon, Hazaribagh, dumped their tomato crops on the streets when they couldn't find buyers.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">This year the situation is worsened by a steep decline in prices of other vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, and spinach, further deepening farmers' distress.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">&ldquo;If we keep incurring such losses year after year, we will be forced to abandon farming altogether,&rdquo; says Ramsevak Dangi, a farmer from Chatra.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><em><strong>&mdash;IANS</strong></em></span></div>

Cattle grazing on tomatoes left by farmers —File Photo

Disheartened by not earning ₹1/kg, agri workers face huge losses

J'khand Farmers Let Tomatoes Rot as Prices Crash

Disheartened by not earning ₹1/kg, agri workers face huge losses

February 14, 2025 | 18:49 IST