Heat wave pushes up vegetable prices

 

Thane: A fierce heat wave coupled with long hours of load shedding in rural pockets has led to an alarming slump in the cultivation of vegetables — which is likely to translate into a further rise in their prices.
    Green chillies, for instance, have already touched Rs 60 to Rs 70 a kilo; tomatoes, Rs 18 a kilo; and beans, lady’s fingers and cauliflower are approximately Rs 40 a kilo.
    The past two months have seen a sharp fall in the cultivation of tomatoes, chillies, peas and leafy and salad vegetables. “The yield of tomatoes and leafy vegetables has touched a new low due to extreme climatic conditions. The crop just wilted in the heat and most farmers suffered 50% to 60% loss in their standing crop,’’ Shriram Gadhve, president of the Vegetable Growers’ Association of India told TOI.
    Moreover, as most of the crop is dependent on irrigation, long hours of load shedding damaged it further. “For farmers, the input costs have risen considerably as they are now spending more on pesticides to counter certain crop diseases. To top it, this year, the temperature soared to 41 degree celsius. All this has resulted in a 60% drop in cultivation,’’ said Gadhve.
    Officials at the Kalyan Agriculture Produce Market Committee said the vegetable stock has been in short supply since the past month. “We would get eight to 10 tonnes of green chillies daily, but in the past few weeks, the supply has fallen to just one-and-a-half tonne a day. Ditto in case of green vegetables where the current supply is limited to just about eight trucks a day as compared to 25 trucks two months ago,’’ said Yeshwant Patil, assistant secretary of Kalyan APMC. The hot and dry climate, said Patil, has caused a huge damage to the stock during the transportation stage itself.
    “Take, for example, green peas. The stock is dispatched regularly from Simla and takes about 40 hours to reach Kalyan. Under the present circumstances, vegetables lose their freshness fast and nearly half the stock has to be disposed of,’’ Patil said.
    While the prices of onions, potatoes and the foodgrain stock have remained mostly stable, vegetables are increasingly turning scarce and the situation will not change till the monsoon makes an entry, Patil added.