Rising tomato prices cook up meme storm

Tribune Web Desk
Chandigarh, November 24

Skyrocketing tomato prices across the country have spurred the internet’s imagination.

The retail price of tomatoes has soared past Rs 100 in several cities across the country, primarily pushed up the damage that the heavy rain and flood have caused to the crop in the south of India.

There has been a sharp rise in retail tomato prices in major cities of the south of India due to widespread moderate to heavy rainfalls during the northeast monsoon since the first week of November due to frequent formations of low-pressure areas in the Bay of Bengal, or cyclonic circulation in the Arabian Sea.

Heavy rainfall in many parts of Andhra, Karnataka, and the Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu—where the crop is cultivated in large areas—have been flooded with water. In many parts of Andhra, either the entire crop is lost or more than 80 percent of the cultivated crop is damaged.

As a result, the tomato crop has been damaged causing tight supply situation.