Pune: Amid skyrocketing prices of tomatoes across the country, a farmer in Maharashtra’s Pune district claimed to have earned more than Rs 2.8 crore by selling tomatoes. Ishwar Gayakar (36) and his wife, who hails from Pune’s Junnar taluka, do not intend to stop at this. The farmer couple has set a target to earn Rs 3.5 crore with a stock of around 4000 crates of tomatoes available with him.
Speaking about his hard work throughout the years, Ishwar Gaikar said, ‘This is not something I have earned in one day. I have been cultivating tomatoes on my 12-acre farm for the last six-seven years now. I have also incurred losses several times but I have never left my hopes. In 2021, I had made a loss of rupees 18-20 lakhs but I did not stop’. Speaking about his profits, this year, Gaikar said, ‘This year, I have cultivated tomatoes on 12 acres and till today, I have sold around 17000 crates priced between Rs 770 to Rs 2311 per crate. So in total, I have earned Rs 2.8 crore till now’.
‘I still have a stock of around 3000 to 4000 crates of tomatoes at my farm. So if you calculate, my total earnings this year would go up to around Rs 3.5 crore’, he added. Gaikar said that his family is happy with his success. Thanking his wife who also works with him at the farm and the blessing of his parents and grandparents, he said, ‘I feel this success has come to me because of the blessings of my parents, grandparents and hard work of my wife who works with me in the farm. Everyone in my family is happy with the price we got for our tomatoes’. Gaikar shared that he thought that he would get around 30 rupees per kg by selling tomatoes but his fortunes turned this season. ‘Before this season, I had in my mind that I would get around 30 rupees per kg for the price of tomatoes, but it turned out to be a bumper lottery for me this time’, he said.
Gaykar is farming since 2005. He took over farming from his father and now he works at his farm with his wife. Earlier, they use to cultivate tomatoes on only 1 acre of land. Later with the availability of labour from 2017, he is cultivating tomatoes on 12 acres. Other than tomatoes, Gaykar also cultivates onions and flowers in respective seasons. Earlier, in a relief for consumers, who were forced to go off tomatoes after their prices went through the roof across the country, the Centre on Sunday reduced the wholesale price of tomatoes from Rs 90 to Rs 80 per kg.
According to an official release, after re-assessing the current situation of the market, the Centre decided to revise the price of tomatoes. The changes in the price will be executed from July 16, Sunday, in Delhi, Noida, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Patna, Muzaffarpur and Arrah through the National Agriculture Cooperation Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and the National Consumer Cooperation Federation (NCCF). It will be expanded to more cities depending upon the prevailing market price at the current locations. The rates of tomatoes were previously revised on July 14 to Rs 90 per kg.
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