The Newz Radar
Solan
After many years, farmers in Himachal Pradesh are a happy lot with the demand for tomatoes from the state soaring and fetching higher-than-expected prices this season.
Due to unseasonal rains, the demand for Himachali tomatoes is increasing day by day in other states. With the rising demand, the price graph has also started touching the sky.
The maximum rate of tomatoes in the Solan vegetable market on Saturday was Rs 9600 per quintal, while the average rate used to be Rs 7500 per quintal. The impact of the increase in wholesale prices in the mandis is also felt in the retail market. Tomatoes are being sold in the retail market at Rs 80 to 100 per kg.
Most of the tomato production has been destroyed due to unseasonal rains this time in the states of Rajasthan, Karnataka, Bangalore, Punjab and Haryana. Significantly, Solan district is the hub of tomato production.
According to the data received from the Agriculture Department, about 5120 hectares of land in Solan comes under tomato cultivation, on which two lakh metric tonnes of annual yield is possible. Ravindra Sharma, secretary, APMC Solan, said that farmers are getting much better prices for tomatoes these days. On Saturday, the price of tomatoes was Rs 1875 to Rs 2400 per crate, which is a matter of happiness for the farmers. Tomato prices are expected to increase further in the coming days.
