Tamil Nadu government started selling of tomatoes at the price of Rs 60 per kg in 'Pannai Pasumai' outlets in Tamil Nadu Urban Cooperative Societies. As a result, tomatoes priced at Rs 60 per kg will be available in 64 Pannai Pasumai outlets.
In the coming, if prices of tomatoes do not come down, the government also mulls making tomatoes available at 35,000 fair-price shops in the state.
On Wednesday, Tamil Nadu minister for cooperatives, K.R. Periyakaruppan inaugurated the sale of tomatoes through Pannai Pasumai outlets in the Tamil Nadu Urban Cooperative Societies.
Currently, only 300 tonnes of tomatoes arrive in the Koyambedu vegetable market, the biggest in south India, as against 800 tonnes of tomatoes that used to come to the market.
As the price of tomatoes spirals, the Tamil Nadu cooperative department has now entered the market. Sources in the Cooperative Department of Tamil Nadu told IANS that this was a deliberate attempt to reduce the prices of tomatoes by making it available through a cooperative network.
The tomato prices are surging in the country since southwest monsoon arrived late in the country. In Lucknow, tomato prices rose to Rs 130 per kilo similarly the red fruit is sold at Rs 80 in Odisha.
In Karnataka, heavy rainfall impacted the crops in June.
On the other hand, the heat waves also led to crop damage in parts of the country.
The situation is expected to remain grain in Mumbai till August.
Some of the departmental stores have dropped certain vegetables off the list. According to PTI, three tomato crops will be cultivated in a year and short gaps between these crops sometimes create price fluctuations in Andhra Pradesh.
Agriculture Marketing Commissioner Rahul Pandey told PTI that the routine will settle down because one crop is getting over.