Farmers dump tomatoes as exports to Pak hit
JHABUA/INDORE: A spike in tensions between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of recent Uri attack has adversely hit Madhya Pradesh’s tomato farmers, who are forced to dump hundreds of quintals of their produce after export routes to the neigbouring country have been closed.
Most famers in the state’s tomato-belt of Jhabua, Khargone and Ratlam districts were largely dependent on exports to Pakistan. But the trade, which used to take place through export agencies via Attari-Wagah land border, came to a complete halt following the tension, dropping tomato prices in local mandis (market) due to excess supply.
Incidentally, a group of farmers from Jhabua’s Petlawad development block had also taken a collective decision to stop exporting their crops to Pakistan in protest against the September 18 attack on an army camp.
India blames Pakistanbased militants for the attack that killed 19 soldiers in Uri.
But farmers are now feeling the pinch in the absence of any alternative export avenues.
During this peak-season of October-November, Petlawad’s around 5,000 tomato growers were forced to throw away hundreds of quintals of their yields, while farmers in other districts just managed to recover the cost.
Nathulal Patidar, a farmer and horticulture expert from Petlawad, said tomatoes from the belt are considered to be the best due to their unique sweet and sour taste and were in great demand in Pakistan. daily average exports from Jhabua, Khargone, Ratlam district
Average exports in Oct-Nov in 2014-15 from three districts
Quantity of tomatoes thrown away in Oct-Nov
production in 2016 Average domestic wholesale prices Pakistan’s average import price in Oct-Nov 2015
Earlier, on an average 125 tons of tomatoes used to be sent from Jhabua, Khargone, Ratlam districts to Pakistan daily in the peak season. Farmers from the three districts exported tomatoes worth around `30 crores on average during 2014-15 period.
But this season, according to farmers, in the absence of export to Pakistan, tomato prices crashed to `40-50 per crate (25kg) as against their production cost of about `110 per crate.
Estimated tomato
“We used to get `700 per crate by exporting our produce to Pakistan,” Rajaram Patidar, a farmer in Ramnagar, told HT.
Unlike potatoes, tomatoes cannot also be stored for more than 10 to 12 days and therefore cannot be sent to far off places, tomato growers say.
R K Namdev, deputy director of the state’s horticulture department though admitted the fall in prices, expressed ignorance about the dumping of crops by farmers.