INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
KOLAR: When he was still a child, his agriculturist father had once brought home Rs 50,000 - sale proceeds from his produce of tomatoes
With the cash safely stashed away in an almirah, the entire family would worship that piece of furniture daily
Little did Murali know then that the same crop would one day see him rake in crores in a matter of a little more than a month.With the price
of the kitchen staple reaching a record high in recent times, Murali, now 48 and a farmer from Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh, has
landed a windfall of Rs 4 crore within a span of just a month-and-a-half, dwarfing the Rs 50,000 in the family almirah decades back.He has
been travelling for more than 130km to sell his tomatoes in Kolar simply because the APMC yard here offers a good price
Speaking to TOI, he said that though he has been into tomato cultivation for the past eight years, he has never seen the vegetable fetch
In fact, in July last year, his family suffered huge losses owing to a fall in prices
He ran into a debt of Rs 1.5 crore, which he had invested on seeds, fertilizers, labour, transportation and other logistics
Poor yield owing to frequent power cuts in their village only added to their misery.However, there has been a turnaround in the power
situation this time around, and his luck has turned too
He said the crop this year is of good quality and so far, 35 harvests have been possible, with another 15-20 more likely
Murali, whose son is studying engineering and daughter is pursuing medicine, said even after clearing all his debts, he was still able to
rake in Rs 2 crore in 45 days
He now plans to invest the money on land and involve himself in horticulture on a larger scale, deploying modern technology
He also plans to buy about 20 acres of land in his village to expand his operations
