In a major example of inflation in major metropolitan cities across the country, the prices of tomatoes have doubled in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and other major Indian cities. The price of tomato in India has risen from Rs 10-20 per kg to a price of Rs 80-100 per kg within a span of just two to three days.
While there are several reasons why the prices of tomatoes have been hiked across the country, the brunt of the inflation is being felt by the farmers and the customers. However, it is expected that the spike in tomato prices will soon be over.
Today, let us examine how the increasing prices of tomatoes are impacting the everyday lives of people. In Vishakapatnam and Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, the prices of tomatoes have increased in the range of Rs 90 and Rs 120. In Bengaluru, the prices of tomatoes were Rs 30 and are now Rs 100 within days.
In Telangana, tomatoes are priced at Rs 90 and in Kochi and other major parts of Kerala, the prices have hit the century mark.
In Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur and in Maharashtra's capital Mumbai, the rate of tomato is over Rs 80 per kg.
According to trade experts, the availability of tomatoes has been affected because of floods and heavy rainfall in important cultivation regions.
"The price hike of tomatoes is primarily because of the dip in supply due to heatwaves in tomato-growing areas and heavy rain, including the recent unseasonal rain and flooding in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka during the harvest periods," a vegetable vendor was quoted as saying.
The rising tomato prices in India have already also impacted Indian households especially because tomatoes are an important ingredient in many Indian dishes.
Speaking about its impact, The Quint quoted Rekha, a homemaker from a lower middle-class family, as saying, "My husband works as a security guard in an apartment. I have a 3-month-old baby, and we run the family with his meagre income of Rs 8,000. The sudden increase in tomato prices has hit our household budget hard. Tomatoes are an essential ingredient in our daily meals and we rely on them for their nutritional value and flavour. With skyrocketing prices, we have to think twice before adding tomatoes to our shopping list. We are now forced to find alternatives or reduce our consumption, which compromises the taste and variety of our meals."
