A cold spell has taken a toll on the price of tomatoes which have increased by around 140% in less than a week. The produce is currently selling for ₹60 a kg in the retail market, up from ₹25 a kg barely two days ago. The sudden surge in price has been attributed to a severe shortage due to crop failure in both Karnataka and Maharashtra.
The tomato growing areas — Kolar-Chikkaballapur — are reeling under drought and, hence, the yield has been severely hit.
“Usually at this time of the year, tomatoes come to Bengaluru's market from Nasik in Maharashtra. But the crop has completely failed in Maharashtra due to drought and a rain deficit,” said a senior HOPCOMS official.
“Most of the farmers have not even sown tomatoes this season, as there was a severe rain deficit and many borewells have dried up. Those who sowed tomatoes saw their crop drop to less than half,” said G. Sanna Munigowda, a vegetable farmer from Chikkaballapur, who added that the situation with other veggies is no different.
“There is a severe water shortage, which when coupled with falling temperatures, have adversely affected short-term crops. The yield is so less that prices have shot up,” he said.
But farmers say their profit margins are not good.
“Most of us are not even able to recover the input costs due to the low yield,” said Papareddy, a farmer from Kolar district.
A silver lining
The price of other vegetables, too, have been rising steadily over the last two weeks. Beans, carrots, brinjal, ladies finger and most other vegetables have crossed the ₹45 mark. The silver lining is the price of onions and potatoes, which are still in the affordable range of of ₹20-₹30 a kilo.
December – January is that time of the year when vegetable yield is comparatively low due to winter. But the prices do not rise as avarekai (field beans) dominates the platter during these months. However, a severe hit in the supply of avarekai as well this year, has made the situation bad, said a procurement official of a leading retail chain in the city. He added that the situation is expected to continue to be bad for consumers at least for the next one month.
