KAKINADA: The prices of vegetables like onion, tomato and brinjal have almost doubled in the past 10 days. In the open market, the Maharashtra variety of onion is priced at Rs 50 per kilo, tomatoes at Rs 40 per kilo, the white brinjal at Rs 100 per kilo and the black brinjal at Rs 40 per kilo.
Traders said the rains in Maharashtra damaged the onion crop and hence the arrival of onions in local markets have drastically come down. This raised the prices.
Generally, onions are brought to Tadepalligudem from Maharashtra. The wholesale dealers in East and West Godavari districts take them from the wholesale market there. Local wholesale traders are sending their men to Chittoor, Ananthapuram and other Rayalaseema districts to look for this.
“This year, many farmers gave up cultivation of tomato crop resulting in a dip in its production. However, the present crop of tomatoes is damaged within three days. The tomatoes are brought to Kakinada in four to five lorries daily at present instead of 20 lorries earlier,’’ said Chinna Reddy, a wholesale tomato trader.
“Previously, 80 lorry loads of onions used to reach the Tadepalligudem market. This has reduced to half the quantity. Now, four or five wholesale traders are bringing onions in one lorry, and this has formed into 25 tonnes. Previously, we used to take 40 tonnes each,” said wholesale dealer Babu Rao here.
At present, the onions are being brought here from Kurnool. In the Rythu Bazaars, only Kurnool varieties of onions are being sold at Rs 32 to Rs 34 per kilo and Maharashtra onions have not been purchased.
“We bought Maharashtra onions at Rs 45 per kilo at Main Bazaar as these varieties are not available in Rythu Bazaars. Previously I used to buy five kilos of onions, but now I could purchase only one kilo due to the high prices,” said Savithri, a housewife from Turangi area here. She said her family does not consume the Kurnool variety of onion as it is reddish in colour. The Maharashtra onions are less red and also big.”
However, wholesale onion trader Babu Rao said the Kurnool variety of onion is not damaged and it can be stored for more than 10 days, but the size is small compared to Maharashtra onion.
The brinjal crop is cultivated locally. But, with the recent rain and floods, this crop was largely damaged. The black brinjal is available for Rs 34 in Rythu Bazaars and Rs 40 per kilo in the open market. But white brinjal is available at Rs 100 per kilo as the crop is coming from Sithanagaram mandal of East Godavari district.
