The major tomato-producing states are Bihar, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal. The crop is grown both in the summer and winter seasons, but those grown in the winter are superior in quality because they contain more total solids. They are a good source of vitamin C. Fresh tomatoes are very refreshing and appetising, but they cannot be stored for a long time. Often, they are sold at distress prices during the peak harvest season, and nearly 25 percent of the produce is spoiled due to mishandling. Wide price fluctuations are recorded in vegetables, particularly when the supply of vegetables is affected due to adverse weather conditions and natural calamities. This affects availability and has a direct impact on the price of vegetables paid by consumers. Such losses in post-harvest handling make the farmer get fewer returns as the on-farm price increases, and consumers have to pay much more to compensate for the losses, thereby increasing the gap between the on-farm price and the consumer price of tomatoes. Farmers usually practice rain-fed agriculture, and at the peak of the season, there is a glut that results in very high losses. Such losses can be avoided by converting tomatoes into delicious products. Large quantities of tomatoes are canned or made into paste, puree, juice, ketchup, and sauce. Thus, there is ample scope for a tomato processing unit to come up in this domain to cater especially to the semi-urban and rural sectors of India. Hence, there is huge business potential and scope for an integrated tomato processing unit for increasing production, processing, post-harvest, and value-added techniques that are expected to generate consumer demand for tomato and tomato food products and, thereby, improve the livelihood of farmers and SHG women.
Krishi Vigyan Kendra Banavasi is determined to take the lead in lowering post-harvest losses during the lean period by making value-added products. In order to reduce losses after harvest, a unit was established on tomato processing for entrepreneurship development with a budget of Rs. 22 lakhs under RKVY in the year 2016–17. The facilities were created with diverse equipment, including a steam jacket kettle, dehydrator, pulper, and automatic pouch packing machine, and have a production capacity of 100 to 200 kg/ hr. Several training programmes were conducted on the value addition of tomato-based products for farmers, farmwomen and rural employees.
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