‘Tomato Grand Challenge Hackathon’ was started in June last year.
Retail prices of tomatoes have now come under control to a great extent. Tomato prices are running between Rs 25 to Rs 50 in the retail market. Meanwhile, the government has selected and financed 28 new ideas, including making wine from tomatoes, under a ‘hackathon’ organized to improve the supply chain and processing levels to deal with the sharp fluctuations in tomato prices. This financing will help these startups to expand their business.
‘Tomato Grand Challenge Hackathon’ was started in June last year.
Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare on Friday said the ‘Tomato Grand Challenge (TGC) Hackathon’ was launched in June last year to invite new ideas at different levels of the tomato value chain. He said that the objective of this initiative was to ensure availability of tomatoes at affordable prices to consumers and to provide fair prices to tomato farmers for their produce. The TGC was prepared by the Department of Consumer Affairs in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (Innovation Cell). Khare said, “Tomato prices fluctuate a lot. “The prices increase rapidly due to excessive rain, heat and pest attacks.”
Prices increase by up to 100% at least 2-3 times a year.
Nidhi Khare said that at least 2-3 times a year there is a sudden increase in prices by up to 100 percent. Sometimes prices fall drastically, affecting farmers’ income. Khare said there is a need to strengthen the supply chain, reduce pre- and post-harvest losses and increase processing levels to stabilize prices. India produces 20 million tonnes of tomatoes annually. “We received 1376 ideas and out of them, 423 were selected in the first phase and finally 28 ideas were financed,” Khare said.
With PTI inputs
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