Virus attack: Is it safe to bring tomatoes to your kitchen?
Amidst virus
attack scare, do you have to eat tomatoes?
Several news channels and websites are running news on the ‘new virus’ which is attacking tomatoes and maybe the subsequent threat to humans, whilst the country is grappling with the coronavirus scare. Naturally people are scared to bring back their kitchen this vegetable which is an integral a part of Indian curries, salads, dips and chutneys. Rumour mills are working fulltime to spread the news that this virus, that they're calling ‘Tiranga Virus’ is deadlier than corona and if humans consume these ‘infected tomatoes’, there could be deadly consequences.
No one is buying tomatoes thanks to the rumour
Mahagaon tehsil in Yavatmal is one among the most important tomato producing areas in Maharashtra
and a rumour of this type has dealt a severe blow to
the farmers in whose fields tomatoes are often seen
rotting, first thanks to the virus and second
because nobody is prepared to shop for even the healthier one's thanks
to the ‘Tiranga Virus’ rumour. An FIR has been filed in Mahagon police headquarters by farm activists against this rumour
mongers.
The real facts
Farmers within the tomato-growing belt of Ahmednagar
and Pune have extensively suffered large crop losses by an
epidemic, which the government has not been ready to identify because it is
different from the standard crop illnesses that
affect tomatoes. Samples of the affected tomatoes are sent
to the Indian Institute of Horticulture Research, Bengaluru, for further
analysis. Tomatoes are quickly rotting under the impact of this virus.
The woes of the farmers
Not just the virus but also the controversy and rumours have badly affected the
sales of tomatoes and now the farmers in Maharashtra are during
a dilemma on whether to replant or to stay their land fallow because the production
losses have reached almost two-third of the yield in certain areas. The farmers
also are facing trouble within
the market as prices of excellent quality
tomatoes, too, have fallen sharply thanks to the news by
a channel, which tried to draw a comparison between the virus afflicting the
tomato and coronavirus.
Don’t pass
the rumours
The tomatoes being suffering from the virus are
rotting quickly and aren't ready
to make their thanks to the market. Moreover,
there are numerous diseases that affect crops with little evidence to prove they need an impression on
humans. thus far nothing has been proved to point out that humans cannot eat healthy, juicy
tomatoes. actually, the
difficulty of false news was also haunted by
former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Prithviraj Chavan. He tweeted that the government must take action against
those spreading the rumour.
