Year on, tomato processing unit yet to come up in Solan

Tribune News Service

Ambika Sharma

Solan, January 2

It’s been more than a year that the Congress had promised to set up a tomato processing plant in Solan, but it seems to have “forgotten” it. AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, during a visit to Solan in the run-up to the 2022 Vidhan Sabha poll, had made the announcement.

Feasibility of Plant

The plant can only be feasible if tomato is procured at a low price as the cost of processing, packaging and marketing is also added to the price of the final product. — APMC officials

The promise, however, was not new. The BJP, after winning all five Vidhan Sabha seats in the district in 2007, had also promised to ameliorate the lot of tomato farmers, who were forced to sell their crop for a song whenever there was a glut in the market.

A site was selected at Do Sarka near Kumarhatti in 2019-20 during the BJP rule. The officials concerned had inspected the site but it was forestland and hence the project required forest clearance. Solan DFO Kunal Angrish said that no such case had come up in the past few months. Farmers said that they felt cheated once again as nothing had been done to fulfil the promise.

Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) officials said that such a plant could only work if tomato was procured at a low price, as the cost of processing, packaging and marketing, etc would also be added to the cost of the final product.

“With tomato selling at a high price in the market, it is not possible to procure it at lower prices to cover the cost of processing, packaging and marketing for running a processing plant,” said an APMC official.

The prices of tomato had surpassed the apple prices in July last year with 1 kg of premium ‘Him Sohna’ variety selling for Rs 102 at the Solan APMC. Even the low-grade tomato variety was sold for as much as Rs 33 per kg this season. Known for its quality, the tomato of Solan district fetches high prices in the market. It is the main cash crop of the area. A produce worth about Rs 1.5 crore is annually sold with the help of the Solan Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee. The area under tomato cultivation has been increasing every year. In 2004, farmers produced 92,220 metric tonnes of tomato on 2,500 hectares. The yield has now risen to 1,25,400 metric tonnes grown on 4,200 hectares.

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