For S. Manimegalai, a home maker from Puliyakulam whose family budget is dependent only on her husband’s income, increase in the price of some of the vegetables has led to changes in the daily expenditure.
“The weekly Uzhavar Santhai used to be a boon for mid and low income families. Now, farmers who sell vegetables directly have also increased prices citing changes in retail market. Hike in the price of coconut has forced us to replace thengai chutney with sambar or thakkali chutney . Luckily, price of tomato has not increased as much as it shot up in July,” said Ms. Manimegalai. Quoting some of her neighbours, she said families are buying vegetables in bulk and storing them in refrigerator when prices are low.
A vendor from a neighbourhood grocery store near Sivaram Nagar said that sale of vegetables has come down as as she was, with no option left, already selling them at a few paise/rupee higher than the price of vegetables at bigger retail stores.
For vegetable buyers in the city, prices of small onions, coconuts, and tomatoes have shot up during the last few days, making many reluctant to buy these. “Even in the weekly markets, the prices are high. I have stopped buying small onions,” says Jothimani, a resident of Ramanathapuram.
Prices of small onions is expected to hover around ₹ 120-140 for another two to three months and prices of tomatoes will come down in a fortnight, said M.R. Palanisamy, Deputy Director of Agriculture Marketing here.
According to M. Rajendran, president of Thyagi Kumaran Market Vegetable Merchants’ Association, small onion prices might touch ₹200 a kg in the retail market. This is mainly because of drought last year and recent heavy unseasonal rains in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Farmers are not benefiting from the price rise.
The wholesale price of small onions is about ₹140. If we used to get 2,000 bags of small onions in the market a day, it has dwindled to 200 bags now. Coconut prices are up because trees dried in Pollachi area and many have cut down the trees because of drought earlier this year. It will take another three months for arrivals to pick up.
Prices of most of the vegetables are above ₹50 a kg. It will take one or two months for the prices to stabilise. Farmers who cultivated small onions on about 950 hectares in Thondamuthur area saw a bumper crop this season. They did not get a good price last month.
Traders and farmers who had stored small onions were getting good prices now, said trade and official sources.
The prices were between ₹ 60 and ₹ 100 last week and increased to ₹ 115 to ₹120 now in the wholesale market.
The retail price at Uzhavar Santhai on Wednesday was between ₹130 and ₹ 135. Bulk buying by the traders for exporting to Middle-East countries might also be a reason for the price rise, said Mr. Palanisamy.
However, the prices of country tomato which was just about ₹30-a-kg last week has increased to ₹35- 38 per kg in Uzhavar Santhais on Wednesday. The prices of tomato is expected to come down in a fortnight, when farmers in Madukkarai block will begin harvest. Tomato was cultivated in 370 hectares in Madukkarai block and 80 hectare in other blocks in Coimbatore district, he said.
Farmers’ Association (Tamilaga Vivasayeegal Sangam) secretary P. Kandasamy said farmers decided when to sell produce based on their needs than on market price.
Most often the market intelligence reports were of little help to them as they did not, so far, factor in movement of produce from other States to the city.
Having seen prices crash in local markets due to arrival of vegetables from other States, the local farmers had begun taking their needs into account to sell produce.
The Government should ensure farmers get a stable price throughout the season, Mr. Rajendran said.
(with inputs from R. Arivanantham, Karthik Madhavan, Wilson Thomas, and M. Soundariya Preetha)
