People who want to get back to their routine diet after Deepavali festivities are in for a rude shock. A steep increase in vegetable prices has ensured that there is no post-festival cheer that is usually the phenomenon when it comes to the prices of fruits and vegetables. Buying greens, especially, could burn a deep hole in your pocket.
M. Vishwanath, managing director, Horticultural Producers’ Co-operative Marketing and Processing Society (HOPCOMS), said there has been a 20 to 40% increase in the prices of vegetables compared with last week.
“The steepest rise has been in the price of tomato, which costs ₹52 a kg now, and greens come at ₹150 to ₹200 a kg. Coriander, for example, costs ₹160 a kg now,” he said.
Prices of most vegetables are being reported to have nearly doubled in a month. Venkatesh G.M., manager at a supermarket chain, said the price of tomato, for example, was up from ₹20 a kg last month to ₹45.
The copious rainfall Bengaluru and places around it such as Kolar, Chickballapur, Nelamangala, Malur, and Doddaballapur received in the last few weeks is said to be one of the contributing factors, mainly affecting the greens. “In the wholesale market, coriander costs ₹160 to ₹180 a kg (from ₹100 about a fortnight ago), spinach ₹110 kg (from ₹60) and fenugreek ₹140 (from ₹60). Even beans costs ₹60 a kg, up from ₹40. During the festival, the price had gone up to ₹80 and it should have normalised by now,” said Mr. Venkatesh.
The continuous rain since mid-August is said to have affected the late crops, as well as the new crops. The prices are expected to stabilise in about two months.
“We will have to wait for three months to get enough vegetables,” said K. Srinivasa Gowda, a farmer in Kolar.
Though vegetable prices in Kolar, a major centre of supplying vegetables to Bengaluru, have gone up owing to low yield following the recent rains, the rainfall is likely to help boost farming in the long run, with farmers having ample water for the summer months.
