Bhopal: The opposition party Congress has sharply criticized the state government for the falling prices of tomatoes, which also heightened the distress among the farmers. Due to the large fall in tomato prices, the farmers are already at a loss from paddy, wheat, and soybean crops, and with these huge setbacks, the financial impact on them will be very heavy. The government is being urged to step in and encourage the promotion of tomatoes in order to give farmers what they deserve in terms of fair prices for the produce.
Congress’ Madhya Pradesh President Jitu Patwari sounded concerned about this issue in an X (formerly Twitter) post. Specific figures were shared to give the scale of the problem. The production of tomatoes in Madhya Pradesh has gone up by more than 150 percent in the last two years says Patwari. Tomato produced in 2022 approx. 32.73 lakh metric tonnes with an area of cultivation of 1,14,501 ha. But till 2024, the cultivation space went up to 1,27,740 hectares, while the product has increased to 36.94 lakh metric tons. However in spite of this, the growers continue to make losses because of the plummeting prices.
After farmers of Madhya Pradesh lost crores of rupees from crops such as wheat, paddy, and soybean, they are now incurring similar losses in tomatoes, said Patwari. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan should take immediate action and ensure the state becomes the efficient and appropriate marketing of good quality tomatoes produced in the state, he called on.
For him, such steps are necessary to ensure profitable sales for farmers and their livelihoods. Without government intervention, the situation could become much worse, the Congress leader said, and that situation would cause farmers in the state to become even more financially distressed.
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