Tomato Price effect:Tamil Nadu lakes turns to Red

Chennai, Mar 03: As a lot of farmers opted to grow tomatoes this year due to less water usage and quick result, tomato production has grown huge this year.

Farmers were unable to recover harvesting costs after the price of tomatoes crashed from Rs 20 to 2 (25 to 2.5 eurocents) this month. Now several lakes of Tamil Nadu are turning red, with scores of farmers discarding freshly harvested tomatoes into them.

"Farmers in Rayakottai, Krishnagiri district and Valappadi in Salem, which are the big tomato markets are dumping tomatoes into nearby lakes as they are unable to recover their harvesting costs," said Dheiva Sigamani, State president, Tamil Farmers Union.

AIADMK spokesperson KC Palaniswami said that the central government should come up with a national policy to help the farmers in Tamil Nadu. He also urged the union government to set up a minimum support price (MSP) for tomato farmers. "Further, storage facilities for perishable goods too is something that is being spoken about".