Vegetable prices hit the roof

Crops suffered extensive damage due to the recent rains, say officials

Bitter aftertaste: Adequate quantity of onions and tomatoes is not reaching the city, say officials

Skyrocketing prices of vegetables in these times of COVID-19 add to the woes of the poor and middle class families, who have already been hit by the pandemic. Rates of almost all vegetables are on the rise and a family of four has to shell out not less than ₹500 on vegetables per week.

Onion price is ₹57 a kg at rythu bazaars and in the open market it is around ₹80 a kg. Field and cluster beans are priced at ₹70 and ₹50 respectively, capsicum around ₹65, potals at ₹52, tomatoes hover around ₹35 and bitter gourd ₹40. Onion is most common ingredient, which goes into almost all Indian curries.

An average Indian family will need at least two to three kilograms of onions a week. Same is the case with tomato, which is added in most Indian curries and dals, as it gives a distinct taste and flavour.

Vegetables grown in 26 hectares, banana crop in 23.6 hectares, and papaya in over 84 hectares in 49 villages of 15 mandals in the district, suffered extensive damage due to the recent rains, according to District Collector V. Vinay Chand.

“We are hardly getting any vegetables for ₹200. Despite the threat of the virus looming large, some consumers, especially youths, jump the queue and fail to observe physical distance. This is observed more at onion and tomato stalls at the Rythu Bazaars,” says D. Nagajyothi, a professional LIC Agent, residing at MVP Colony.

“Most of the local farmers, who grow vegetables, switch over to paddy before the rains,” says a farmer at the Kancharapalem Rythu Bazaar.

“Fifty metric tonnes (two lorry loads) of onions are normally sold every day through the 13 Rythu Bazaars in the city. An additional two lorry loads would be sold in the open market. Due to heavy rains in Maharashtra, from where we get most of our onion stocks, we are only getting one lorry load for the Rythu Bazaars,” says the Assistant Director of Marketing M. Kaleswara Rao.

“The heavy rains this year in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra have caused extensive damage to crops and resulted in the steep hike in vegetable prices. Tomatoes are grown mostly in Kurnool and Karnataka and heavy rains have damaged the crop in a large area,” says A. Kurma Rao, vice president of the Wholesale Vegetable Dealers Association, Gnanapuram.