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 such a fortune.Murali’s joint family in Karakamandala village had inherited 12 acres of land, while he purchased an additional 10 acres a few years ago.
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.
He even had a word of advice for all those farmers in distress over crop failure and spiralling debt, saying: “One who believes in and respects agriculture will never lose the fight.”
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