Hot and soar: Tomato crisis and the role of innovative seed technologies to address it holistically

India’s tomato market continues to remain volatile due to extreme weather conditions such as drought and deluge. This has led to unprecedented price volatility, with tomato prices surging over 300% in certain regions. The urgency to address this crisis is evident as the retail prices in soared to over Rs 200 per kilogram in a short span in the last few weeks hitting the consumers hard. Sometimes, the market prices hit the abyss in some parts of the country to below Re 1 per kg heavily impacting farmers’ profitability.

India, ranking second in the world, produces over 20 million tonnes (in 2022) of tomato grown on 8.4 lakh hectares with an average productivity of around 24.5 tonnes per hectare. Since several decades, the Indian government is undertaking several initiatives such as promoting use of high-yielding varieties and hybrids, modern agricultural practices like protected cultivation and micro irrigation, investing in irrigation infrastructure, encouraging post-harvest management and value addition.

Yet, the current tomato crisis in India highlights the urgency to explore innovative solutions beyond the ordinary. By focusing on research and development, tomato crop productivity can be improved significantly, which will help stabilize prices and alleviate distress for farmers and consumers alike. Without sustained investments in R&D on cutting-edge technology-aided plant breeding, similar crises can occur in any crops anytime and all it needs is just one bad monsoon to set a vicious cycle in motion.

New breeding technologies (NBTs), with their remarkable capabilities, offer a ray of hope. For example, CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), a promising gene-editing tool, holds immense potential to enhance agronomical traits like pest & disease resistance, extend shelf life, and boost productivity, stabilize prices and enhance fruit quality and emerged as a game-changer in tomato breeding, as highlighted in a study by Wang, T., Zhang, H. & Zhu, H. (2019).

I. Enhancing resistance against biotic stresses and tolerance against abiotic factors – CRISPR’s prowess lies in bolstering pest and disease resistance in tomatoes. By precisely targeting specific genes, researchers have successfully engineered tomatoes with heightened immunity against pathogens. This breakthrough trait ensures a consistent tomato supply, even amidst challenging weather conditions, which plays a vital role in stabilizing prices in the market. With disease-resistant tomatoes, farmers can mitigate crop losses, protect their livelihoods, and provide a stable tomato supply to the markets.

It is paramount to develop climate-resilient tomato varieties and hybrids. Though heat tolerance may not be a current priority for the tomato breeders, rising temperatures due to climate change will soon warrant this trait to be prioritized.

II. Prolonging shelf life – Utility of CRISPR technology goes beyond disease resistance, extending to the realm of shelf-life extension. Through precise gene editing, CRISPR has produced tomatoes with prolonged shelf life, effectively reducing post-harvest losses. Reduced spoilage and waste during storage and transportation contribute significantly to stabilizing prices in the tomato market. This translates to a steady supply of fresh tomatoes, and alleviating pressure on prices.

III. Boosting yield potential – CRISPR’s potential as a boon for farmers is further evident in its ability to enhance tomato yield. By optimizing genes associated with yield, fruit quantity and crop growth, researchers have developed tomato strains with improved productivity. Increased availability helps meet consumer demand, preventing sudden price spikes triggered by supply shortages and creates a win-win situation for farmers and consumers, fostering a more stable market.

Despite the immense potential of advanced technologies, their widespread implementation in India faces several challenges mainly, public perception. Clear and science-based policy and regulatory guidelines are necessary for using these kinds of innovative technological tools for crop improvement. Through creating greater awareness about the scientific rationale, safety, and advantages of innovative technologies like gene editing, stakeholders can gain confidence on their positive and multidimensional socioeconomic impacts. Collaboration between public and private institutions can play a pivotal role in this context.

NITI Aayog estimates that the aggregate demand for fruits and vegetables demand will exceed 420 million tonnes in the next 10 years. But India continues to lose nearly 40% of its horticultural production worth billions every year. So, continued investments on processing, value addition and post-harvest management to reduce wastage avoid recurrence of these kinds of crises not only in tomato but all crops particularly, vegetables.

Incentivizing investment in R&D is vital to drive development of superior varieties with improved agronomical and nutritional attributes. Along with conducive and evidence-based policy and regulatory frameworks, these innovative approaches can pave the way for a more stable, less volatile, climate-resilient tomato sector.

Moreover, this holistic approach can serve as a model to proactively avoid potential crises in any other vegetable or field crops, ensure food and nutritional security for the 1.4 billion population and help India achieve its Amrit Kaal aspirations.

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