Rain delay: Tomato, potato prices on fire

This year’s delayed and deficient monsoon has caused a huge jump in the prices of essential vegetables such as potatoes and tomatoes since June 30 across the Capital. Shaswati Das reports.

This year’s delayed and deficient monsoon has caused a huge jump in the prices of essential vegetables such as potatoes and tomatoes since June 30 across the Capital.

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Tomatoes, which cost Rs. 25 per kilo on average in markets across the city 11 days ago, shot up to Rs. 55 on Wednesday. Potatoes, available for Rs. 10 per kilo, rose to Rs. 20.

“Ours is a single-income family that depends on my husband’s pension and this big a rise in prices of such essential vegetables has hit our monthly budget very badly,” said Chittaranjan Park resident Krishna Mitra.

Retailers have their own reasons for hiking prices. “We are procuring tomatoes, potatoes and cauliflower at very high prices from wholesalers because supply has been hit drastically. So, we need to maintain a small margin to recover our costs,” said Majnu Ram in Kailash Colony.

The wholesaler’s story was summed up by Anil Malhotra of the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee: “The monsoon delay has wreaked havoc on the harvest. Our tomato produce comes from Himachal, Maharashtra and Bangalore. In these places, crops were damaged because of scanty rain. Supply has now dropped by 70% and there is nothing we can do about it.”