KOCHI: With prices of commonly used vegetables shooting up to Rs 60 to Rs 70 a kg in retail markets, people are finding it hard to manage the pressure on household budgets. Prices of all essential goods and vegetables were on an upward trajectory for the last couple of weeks.
The traders blame it on the floods in Tamil Nadu, inadequate supp-ly from other states and high demand of the Sab-arimala pilgrim season.
Essentials like ladies finger, French beans, small onion and tomato have become costlier by several times, and they have gone out of reach.
The wholesale price of tomato touched Rs 55, a sharp increase from Rs 25 last month, while ladies finger costs Rs 55 a kg, cowpea Rs 50, drumstick Rs 90, French beans Rs 75 and small onion Rs 65.
It will be costlier by Rs 5 to Rs 10 higher when they reach the consumer. In the retail shops, tomatoes are sold at Rs .65 and the small onion Rs 75.
Reports indicate that the escalating price has also affected the traders. Retailers and supermarkets report severe fall in sales.
“During the Sabarimala season, vegetable demand peaks in all southern states. Since the floods affected vast are-as of crops in Tamil Na-du, we are not getting enough quantity,” said Saji C.D., a wholesale dealer in Ernakulam market.
Though homestead organic farming initiatives are picking up, the state is yet to be self-reliant. Its vegetable re-quirement is nearly 30 lakh tonnes, worth Rs 1,000 crore, while the domestic production is 40 per cent.
Meanwhile, there are complaints that domestic farmers in areas like Puthencruz, Kuruppumthara and Pattima-ttom, from where cowpea, ash gourd and ivy gourd are transported to markets in the state, are jacking up the prices of domestic varieties.
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