Commentary on microeconomics. The main problem outlined in the article is low price of tomatoes in Coimbatore market, Tamil nadu
Title of extract: Farmers see trouble as tomato prices nosedive
Source: Times of India
Date of publication: July 20, 2011
Date of commentary written on: November 13, 2011
Section of syllabus: Microeconomics
Word count: 660
The main problem outlined in the article is low price of tomatoes in Coimbatore market, Tamil nadu. This is a result of surplus of tomatoes in Coimbatore caused by high supply of tomatoes. The basic economic problem, that is, for whom to produce? (Distribution of goods) is being faced by the farmers.
In this graph, we can see that supply has increased indicated by the rightward shift in the supply curve from Se to S 2. This shift has resulted in the price falling from Pe to p 2.
There are several factors that has jointly caused this high increase in supply. First is the weather conditions, “good southwest monsoon”. The second factor is improvement in technology/ availability of advance machines, “better irrigation facilities”. And the last factor is “inadequate demand” in Kerala market that made the farmers in the western Tamil nadu to move their supply of tomatoes to the retail outlets of Coimbatore.