Thousands of farmers in Jharkhand are in deep crisis after the price of tomatoes plummeted to as low as Rs 2 - Rs 3 per kg. They have now abandoned their tomato crops, leaving them to rot in the fields.
In some areas, wholesale buyers are unwilling to pay even Re 1 per kilogram, making it impossible for farmers to recover their investment.
Faced with mounting losses, several farmers have resorted to destroying their ripe crops with tractors. 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.
Prices have been in free fall since January. Even in the retail market, tomatoes are fetching no more than Rs 5-Rs 10 per kg.
Read more at Daiji World