Why Rayalaseema farmers fear a bumper crop more than drought; can the ₹1-lakh-crore horticulture hub change that?

Ask tomato growers in Madanapalle or mango farmers in Chittoor what they fear most. It is not drought but a bumper crop.

That is Rayalaseema’s paradox. Farmers toil for months and reap a good harvest, but lose money because everyone else in the region has a similar yield.

In July, 13,000 tonnes of tomatoes flooded markets in a day, and the price crashed to ₹14.70 a kg. Lower grades fetched ₹8 to ₹10. After spending on crates and transport, farmers got barely ₹3. I n kharif 2025, farmers in Annamayya and Anantapur districts resorted to distress sales , selling tomatoes at ₹4 a kg against a cost of ₹6.