Everywhere you can watch cluster of tomatoes, in the market, on the roads, outside home and off the road in Pimpalgaon, located 25km from Nasik. It is the largest tomato market in entire Asia and the whole Pimplagaon has been producing tomatoes since many years. Each household in Pimpalgaon has at least one acre of land and nearly half of it is dedicated to tomato production.
Previously, farmer used to sell their tomatoes in Pimpalgaon - Lasalgaon joint market. But in 1991, both these markets got separated and since then Pimpalgaon market has been witnessing records in the production of tomatoes. Currently, P S Navale is the joint secretary of Krishi Utpanna Bazaar Samitee of Pimpalgaon and he also monitors the Pimpalgaon tomato market.
Pimpalgaon supplies tomatoes to other Indian markets like Delhi, Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Haryana. Apart from other markets in India, it also exports tomatoes to countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan. The Pimpalgaon market of Nasik district has a capacity of supplying 1000 quintals of tomatoes per day. During the peak season i.e. in September-October, on an average 1400 kg of tomato get produced on a land of one acre. During high demand season, the tomato market of Pimpalgaon manages to do business of more than one crore per day.
Each morning, farmers transport their tomatoes to the Pimpalgaon market, where agents bid for the right price. The demand and supply of tomatoes in other domestic as well as international markets creates strong impact on the prices of tomatoes in Pimpalgaon market. The tomato market has contributed to the growth of Nasik region in such an extent that many youngsters aspire to do farming rather than going to the bigger cities for employment.




