Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru (MS)

Bengaluru, May 3: The price of lemons has increased since the onset of summer. Now the price of tomatoes too has shot up to Rs 75 to 80 per kilo. This has affected exports also.

In HOPCOM outlets the price of tomato is between Rs 62 to 64 per kilo. The price has shot up by Rs 10 in a single day. People are turning to alternative recipes which do not require tomatoes.

Hotel and restaurant owners are mulling on increasing the prices of food due to the increase in tomato price as well as that of commercial gas.

Last month, the tomato growers were distraught as the price of tomato was Rs 2 to 3 per kilo. Most of the farmers had thrown the produce on the roads. But now the demand is more as the supply is less which has led to the sudden increase in price.

The prices of vegetables and fruits shoot up generally in the months of April and May. But the price of tomatoes used to hover around Rs 50 to 55. But this year it has gone upto Rs 80. Tomato grower Narayana Gowda says that this price will remain in this range for the next two to three months as it takes at least three months for the tomatoes to get ripe.

Kolar, Mulabagilu, KFG, Chintamani, Sidlaghatta, Chikkaballapura and Doddaballapura are the places where the tomato is mainly grown in Karnataka.