Every season tomato rates crash when everyone harvests together. How can I time and place my sales better?
How do I sell tomato (tamatar) to avoid the glut and crash in Kolar mandi?
NNaveen Kumar5mo ago · 273 views
6 Answers
🌾Farmer.in Krishi TeamExpert ✓5mo ago
Tomato gluts happen because everyone in a belt transplants and harvests around the same window, so the way out is to spread your risk rather than chase one price. Stagger your planting so your harvest does not all hit the peak arrival period, and pick a variety and window that targets the leaner supply months when you can, but confirm the safe windows with your KVK since off season has its own pest and weather risk. Grade and pack well, because clean, uniform, firm fruit sells even in a weak market while ungraded fruit is the first to be dumped. Track arrivals and rates across nearby mandis on the Agmarknet portal and sell where arrivals are lower. Selling through an FPO, to processors or direct to retail and distant markets can fetch more than dumping at one local mandi at peak. Spreading sales across days also averages the price.
LLokesh5mo ago
Grading honestly changed my returns. Even in a crash the buyers pick out the well graded boxes first and the loose unsorted lots rot in the yard.
MMahadeva Swamy4mo ago
Joining an FPO helped our group reach a distant city market and a couple of processing buyers instead of all of us dumping at the one local mandi on the same day. The collective load got better attention and rate than any of us alone at peak arrival.
PPrakash Naik4mo ago
Staggering my transplanting across a few dates means my harvest is spread over weeks, so I am not forced to sell everything when arrivals are highest. It will not beat a total market crash, but it keeps me from selling my whole crop on the single worst day.
GGeetha Naik4mo ago
Checking arrivals on the Agmarknet portal before loading my vehicle saved me from dumping at a flooded mandi a few times. When the nearby market showed lower arrivals I sent my load there instead. It is a small habit but it kept me from selling at the very bottom on a heavy arrival day.
SShankar Gowda3mo ago
A processing buyer took my crop at a steadier rate one bad season while the open mandi was crashing. I lined them up before planting and grew what they wanted. It will not always pay more than a good open market day, but it gave me a floor when everyone was dumping fresh fruit together.