Pricey tomatoes turning farmers into crorepatis in Telangana

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

tomato are making crorepati farmers in Telangana. In Medak, Mahipal Reddy, a tomato grower, found reason to celebrate as he raked in an impressive Rs 1.8 crore from his tomato sales. However, for many other farmers, the journey has been nothing short of a roller-coaster ride.

As per a ToI report, Y Narasimha Reddy, a farmer from Vikarabad's Parigi mandal, has been cultivating vegetables for more than ten years. Just a few months ago, he faced a significant loss of Rs 15 lakh due to a sudden drop in cabbage prices, leaving him disheartened. But fate soon turned in his favor when he earned a whopping Rs 30 lakh from his tomato crop.

With another Rs 70 lakh worth of produce in hand, he is set to join the ranks of 'crorepati' farmers. Having switched from cotton to vegetable cultivation a decade ago, Reddy told ToI, «This time, I cultivated tomatoes in 10 acres. When the produce was ready, I did not get a high price.

But it all changed suddenly with a huge demand. I sold nearly 3,000 boxes of tomatoes.» P Raghunandan, from Jinnaram mandal in Medak district, also had a successful season, selling tomatoes worth Rs 80 lakh from his three-acre land. Meanwhile, farmer P Venugopal, also from Jinnaram, took a clever approach to his tomato cultivation, saying, «I coolly made Rs 80 lakh from three acres of tomatoes this season because I adopted different methods of cultivation.» Mohammed Hanif of Vikarabad had a similar success story three years ago, earning nearly Rs 1 crore by selling tomatoes when prices were skyrocketing.