Like onions, tomatoes too are an emotive issue - when price fluctuations and oversupply cause consumers and farmers angst. But wine from tomatoes could be a possible solution to address the price and supply volatility.  

It is just one among 28 innovative ideas selected by the government to ensure stability in the tomato supply chain. These ideas were shared by Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare on Friday. The central government has released around ₹76 lakh to fund the ideas (14 have been patented).

Tomato hackathon

These ideas have emerged out of the Tomato Grand Challenge (TGC) hackathon, launched in June 2023, when in cities like Delhi retail prices jumped to ₹70-80/kg from ₹20/kg within a month. 

The Centre received 1,376 ideas from the hackathon of which 28 were selected. Of these, wine from tomatoes is an intriguing product with many benefits. “Our solution is to develop a nutritive Tomato Wine,” said the successful entrepreneur who has launched a startup to take the idea to fruition.

“First, nutritional and health benefits of tomatoes will be upgraded, using traditional fermentation technology. Besides, ‘biofortified bio-compost’ will be produced using all the wine residues with the objective of zero-waste and circular economy,” he said.

 Another idea aims to solve the storage challenge that tomato producers and retailers face. India produces 20 million tonnes of tomatoes annually while it has a shelf life of 15-21 days in good conditions.

One of the ideas is to develop a storage unit with solar energy (for running the fan) that can be used in transportation. “It is based on evaporative cooling and thermodynamic principles – can be operated by solar energy (sustainable energy) and wind velocity (zero energy) generated while the vehicle is moving. The storage chamber consists of three layers of walls - Galvanized steel, Insulation Material between the outermost and middle walls and Composite layers (charcoal and saw flakes) between the middle and innermost walls,” an official said.

Another idea is to develop a large scale “Water Resistant Coating” that can be used for food delivery packaging as it has been developed using biopolymers derived from tomato waste and it is a good alternative to plastic material used now.

A fascinating product emerging out of the hackathon is one called “Tomatolixir”. Already patented, it is a non-chemical based formulation against foliar pathogens that has features for enhancing soil structure and fertility and also for promoting plant growth and higher yield.