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The tomato farmers in Umrale, a non-descript village about 11 km from Nashik in Maharashtra, are smiling their way to the banks as their incomes have grown substantially by adopting sustainable agriculture practices.
“My annual income has grown four times to Rs 3 lakh a year per crop. Also, I get an extra income of Rs 1-2 lakh from flowers that I sow alternating with my tomato crop,” said Yashwant Sonawane, a grower.
The average yield has also increased by 25 per cent, said another farmer Nana adding that the costs have come down by Rs 50,000/hectare by doing away with traditional practice of staking, a tedious process of providing support to tomato plants to keep plants and fruit off the ground.
The fruiting cycle has also come down from 150 days to 70 days, Sonawane said.
Some 579 such farmers in Nashik and Pune districts have benefited from the partnership between consumer goods maker Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and the Maharashtra Government for sustainable sourcing of tomatoes. Based on the success of this project, HUL intends to work with other State Governments moving forward.
As a part its parent company Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan to source all its agricultural raw materials through sustainable practice by 2020, HUL has entered into a public-private partnership for the first time. It will also provide farmers with a buy-back guarantee for their produce as part of the sourcing arrangement.
“We want to source all 100 per cent of the tomatoes used in our ketchups locally from sustainable sources by 2015. It is also our aim to make India an export hub for Unilever. In 2011, 60 per cent of tomatoes used in Kissan ketchup in India were from sustainable sources,” said Ramesh Krishnamurthy, Procurement Operations Director, HUL and South Asia, Unilever. Currently, HUL imports 30-35 per cent of the tomatoes from China.
HUL already works with smallholder tomato farmers in Karnataka and Punjab by offering them global and local knowledge and expertise in sustainable agriculture practices in tomato cultivation, this includes the latest agricultural know-how, irrigation practices and selection of the right type of seeds.
> Priyanka.pani@thehindu.co.in
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