Sky-high veggie prices over-cooking the Punekar budget

Onions at ₹100/kg, tomatoes at ₹80/kg and garlic at ₹220/kg has hit the common man’s budget.

PUNE: Soaring prices of vegetables are making Puneites battle rain and manage budget. Onions at ₹100/kg, tomatoes at ₹80/kg and garlic at ₹220/kg has hit the common man’s budget.

As essential vegetable prices rise, the fear is the unseasonal rain will now affect the cost of the leafy vegetables. (HT Photo)

The sky-high prices of common vegetables have left consumers to curtail their leafy supply at home. With onion, garlic and tomato a staple part of an Indian diet, the common man is feeling the pinch. Unseasonal rains and delayed monsoon have severely affected crops in rural area.

“We have stopped taking onion and also reduced its quantity in food. Even the use of garlic has come down. I only bought 250 grammes of onion and half a kilo of tomatoes today. The prices are very high, but is there an alternative for vegetables?” said Shelar Bhajiwale from Shivdarshan area.

Shelar said that veggies prices have come down as compared to Monday, but it double of the normal season. “With crops damaged, supply to the wholesale market at Gultekadi is hit. With less supply, it is natural that prices would shoot up,” he said.

Shelar said with price of garlic touching ₹220/kg in retail market, consumers are forced to purchase only 100 gm and hope that the prices come down in the future.

Trader Ramesh Dharne, who is selling vegetables on cart, said vegetable prices have doubled over the recent past.

Shailaja Kulkarni, a bank employee, said, “The high price of vegetables has disturbed our kitchen budget. The prices of onion and garlic are rising over the past couple of weeks. We cannot avoid vegetables in kitchen despite its high prices.”

Aarti Mutha, a consumer, said that traders are saying that as rains have damaged vegetables in fields, the prices will remain high for few more days. “We are using cereals more and brought down vegetable consumption,” she said.

“Vegetable price variation is a function of demand and supply. Since their supply disrupted due to floods, prices of almost all vegetables have risen significantly,” said a senior official at the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) in Pune.

Meanwhile, experts estimate nearly 40 per cent damage to kharif-sown vegetables. First, sowing of these crops was impacted due to a three-week delay in monsoon rainfall this season. Second, 90-day vegetable crops got submerged in flood water, as most of the standing plants grew pale.

According to officials and experts, the price hike is due to supply crunch caused by prolonged monsoon this year. The unseasonal rains have caused a rise in vegetable cost until the harvesting of crops sowed in rabi season begins.

Farmers say excess rains have damaged their vegetables and left standing crops useless. According to experts, continuous downpour caused soil to retain water and rot the roots of plants.