| After a series of disastrous harvests there seems to be some hope for tomato farmers in Karnataka.
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| Tomato prices which crashed to less than Rs 100 per quintal, has stabilised to around Rs 110-130 per quintal for hybrid tomatoes and Rs 160-180 for the local variety, this week. From February to April, prices were around Rs 400-450 per quintal.
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| At the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) yards in Bangarpet, Malur, Srinivaspura and Chintamani, which were the worst-affected areas, daily arrivals now average around 90-100 trucks a day compared to 150-200 trucks a day in the recent past.
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| Dhal Singh, assistant director, National Horticulture Board said that after the good rains, high temperature led to pre-maturing of the crop and hence high production.
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| Karnataka presently has 25,000-30,000 hectares under tomato cultivation, mainly concentrated around Kolar, Bangalore and Davanagere districts.
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| According to G K Vasanthkumar, Karnataka director of horticulture, farmers were lured by soaring prices of tomato during February and March and took to mass cultivation, resulting in the glut.
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| The Karnataka government intervened through the APMC by announcing support prices for quality tomatoes, resulting in diversion of surplus crops to other districts and to non-tomato growing states, said Syed Zameer Pasha, director of agricultural marketing and managing director, Karnataka State Agricultural Marketing Board.
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| During the crisis, APMC fixed a minimum support price of Rs 2 per kg for best-quality grade I tomato. Prices for grade II and III were fixed at Rs 1.60 and Rs 1.25 per kg respectively.
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| In addition to the glut, the tomato season is clashing with the mango season, which has been getting priority in processing.
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| “If we had capacity to process tomatoes, there would have been better support to farmers,” said Vasanthkumar. |
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