Don’t forget to carry a lot of money when you step out to buy fruits or vegetables.Common vegetables such as carrots and beans cost Rs. 54 and Rs. 58 a kg respectively at present.
The prices of fruits such as apple, sweet lemon, banana and papaya are also shooting up, burning a hole in the pockets of buyers.
Short supply is cited one of the reasons for the rising prices of vegetables.
A vegetable seller at a popular mall here, who wished to remain anonymous, however, said: “The prices have remained on the higher side for several weeks now. I was told by my suppliers that vegetable production has come down considerably in the villages around Mysore as people are selling off their farmlands due to good real estate value.”
Some vendors here get vegetables from places about 70-80 km away from Mysore. The transportation costs make the vegetables costlier.
Ms. Latha, a housewife, asked: “How can a middle-class family like ours afford to buy beans for Rs. 60?”
Sadly, even after shelling out more, consumers are not getting quality vegetables. Retail vendors say they are helpless. “Whatever we get from the market we sell. We also incur losses because of inferior quality produce,” a vendor said.
With the “marriage season” coming to close, the prices are expected to stabilise.
“Normally, prices of vegetables decline in ‘Ashada’ season as the demand comes down. We hope the trend continues this year too. But, it is hard to say with monsoon playing truant,” the vendor said.
Papaya, which was being sold for Rs. 12 a kg last week, has shot up to Rs. 20 a kg. Mango prices have stabilised, but apple continues to be unaffordable. Apple (even local variety) does not come for less than Rs. 100 a kg. The following were the prices of vegetables on Tuesday — drumstick (Rs. 45 a kg), cluster beans (Rs. 35), chow chow or ‘seeme badanekayi’ (Rs. 29), ladies finger or ‘okra’ (Rs. 27), capsicum (Rs. 43) and cabbage (Rs. 39 for red variety and Rs. 29 for white variety).
