During the devastating 2015 floods in south India that wreaked havoc along the coasts of Tamil Nadu and southern Andhra Pradesh between November 9 and December 16, tomatoes earned the moniker of ‘red gold’. Tomato prices, which had barely surpassed ₹50 per kilogram earlier, skyrocketed to ₹300 per kilogram in the open market. With fields submerged due to relentless rains, tomato farmers in the Madanapalle division, now in Andhra Pradesh’s Annamayya district (previously in the Chittoor district), struggled to salvage the crop and export stocks. Yet, they made a profit, simply because of the high prices.
Eight years later, in 2023, tomato prices are once again showing a similar trend, having reached ₹250 a kilogram. This time, the culprit is the heatwave and a prolonged summer, unprecedented in the typically cool climate of the Madanapalle region that is over 600 metres above sea level. Average temperatures range between 30 and 33 degrees Centigrade, but this year touched 37 degrees, impacting the tomato crop. Summer cultivation in Madanapalle is the most profitable, while from September to February, yields are lower by 40%.
According to Horticulture department officials, there are about 10,000 tomato farmers in the Madanapalle region, cultivating an 8,000-hectare expanse in Annamayya district. During COVID-19, total cultivation area diminished by 2,000 hectares as lockdowns and disruptions in transportation played havoc in the lives of the farmers, who refrained from sowing fresh crop, between 2020 and 2022.
