Despite strike, farmers fear their crop will rot during rains, send produce to Mumbai markets

Mumbai city news: As many as 625 trucks carrying vegetables from across India and parts of Maharashtra arrived at the APMC market

Vegetable prices, which had skyrocketed following the farmers’ strike in Maharashtra, have returned to normal owing to the abundant supply of commodities at the wholesale APMC market in Navi Mumbai.

The Dadar market on Wednesday. (Satyabrata Tripathy/ HT)

As many as 625 trucks carrying vegetables from across India and parts of Maharashtra arrived at this market on Thursday.

“Since it has started pouring in some areas of the state, farmers fear that their crop will rot. Vegetables are perishable items and rains only shorten their shelf life,” said vegetable wholesaler Kailash Tajane.

“The farmers have defied the call to strike and have sent their produce to the market. We got an overwhelming supply today and demand was not much. This is why prices dropped,” he added.

The prices of vegetables in the wholesale market had touched Rs18 a kg. They have currently dropped to Rs8 or Rs10.

The situation in the retail market has also stabilised. Vegetable that had touched Rs80 to Rs100 a kg on June 2 have dropped to Rs30 to Rs40 a kg.

“The prices of the vegetables have returned to normal. The demand, however, is still low. Prices could reduce further in the coming days if the demand does not go up,” he added.