New Delhi: The prices of vegetables have shooting up for the past few days, disturbing the budget of common man. The prices are higher at wholesale and retail levels in Delhi-NCR region. The retail vendors say that they are also getting the commodities at increased price.
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As per latest rates, tomato is sold at Rs 54 per kg while potato is at Rs 18-22 per kg. Cauliflower and Bringjal are available at Rs 98 and Rs 45 per kg respectively.
What the reason behind the hike of vegetable prices?
The vendors say that the prices of vegetables and fruits are high because of supply crunch due to high rainfall and high transportation cost. Most vegetables in Delhi-NCR region come from Sahibabad. Excessive rainfall cause vegetables to rot in the agriculture fields.
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Similar case in Himachal, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh
In Himachal Pradesh, the nation’s vegetable bowl, the unrelenting monsoon rains for more than two and a half months during the kharif season, or summer crops, have also severely impacted the crops of tomato, capsicum, peas, French beans, cucumber, and cabbage, causing an overall decline in production of up to 50%.
The vegetable prices in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh are also touching the sky owing to the shortage and they are getting remunerative prices.
“The price of peas has doubled with its wholesale price in Shimla currently touching Rs 150-160 per kg as against Rs 70-80 per kg in this season a year ago,” Nahar Singh Chaudhary, a wholesaler in the Dhalli market near here, told IANS.
Market analysts predict that after Diwali, when vegetables from the north Indian plains begin to enter the market, prices will return to normal. In Chandigarh, the cost of tomatoes has soared from Rs 30 per kg to Rs 60 per kg in retail. Peas from the Karsog and Shimla regions are selling for between Rs 200 and Rs 220 per kg in Chandigarh’s retail market.
The damage to the vegetable crops in the hill state, according to farmers in the Shimla, Kangra, and Solan districts, was caused by high rains and the advent of a fungal disease that killed the crops more this monsoon than in the past.