Summary:
CHENNAI: Lower acreage for tomato cultivation in Tamil Nadu and cold weather in key regions of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have hit supply in the state, pushing up prices. While bad weather forced reduction in acreage of tomato cultivation, the yield from cultivated crops too dropped. Farmers who used to raise tomato crop on more than 600 acres, this season cut it down to 250 acres.“It’s a seasonal phenomenon, when tomato suffers damage during extreme cold. Around this time last year, wholesale tomato prices in places like Madurai hovered around ?5 per kg.At the Koyambedu wholesale market in Chennai, there has been a 50% drop in number of trucks bringing in tomatoes, mainly from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. But, we have not seen any alarming damage or fall in yield in Coimbatore,” said M Chinnadurai, Centre for Agricultural and Rural Development Studies, TNAU..