Vegetable prices are on fire. Tomatoes, that cost as little as Rs 20 or even Rs 10 a kilo in winter, are selling for Rs 120 this week. Cucumbers, that look so unappetising that vendors themselves admit customers wouldn’t have touched them in other seasons, are selling for Rs 100.
Some residents are switching to cheaper vegetables, and others are continuing purchases grudgingly, all the while wondering when prices would rationalise.
Undone by the heat
Just as you have been complaining of the heat, the crops have been suffering too, leading to poor yields.
“The plants are burning out in the fields before they can bear fruit,” says Ashok Borel, a vegetable vendor at CK Market. “Production is so low that we are only getting a quarter of the volume we need and the shortage in supply is driving up prices. A temporary price rise is expected every monsoon due to supply chain disruptions and crop damage from heavy rains, but we are not used to prices spiking due to excessive heat.”
Akbar Ali Molla, a vendor at Action Area 1’s NKDA Market gets his vegetables from the fields in Bhangor near Rajarhat. “It’s such a pity! Fields that would yield two quintals (200kg) of vegetables are bearing 50kg now. And even the produce looks wilted, discoloured and crooked. In winter, customers wouldn’t even look at the cucumbers at my stall now and yet they’re selling at a record-breaking Rs 100.”
Sufal Bangla is a government initiative to provide fair-priced farm produce through various pop-ups across the state. In Salt Lake, such stalls can be found near Baisakhi Island, CK Market etc. At the stall next to the HA community hall, the vendors share similar stories.
“We go to the farms in Bangor at 3 or 4am and pick up freshly plucked vegetables,” says Biswadip Das. “But if, say, the cauliflower isn’t picked by then and is left in the field till noon, it starts turning reddish in the heat and attracting insects. The spinach that was plucked in the morning looks lifeless in our crates by 11am. Only pumpkins are surviving; their prices too are constant at Rs 24.”
Lost in transit
Vegetable spoilage isn’t limited to the fields. It continues during storage and transport to markets. “Delicate vegetables like French beans are catching fungus if exposed to the heat for two to three hours. So we are having to transport them in air-conditioned vehicles. It’s the same for tomatoes and capsicums,” says Subhadip Guha Thakurta, assistant store manager of New Town’s Reliance Fresh outlet. “Naturally, the cost is driven up.”
“For every 10kg of vegetables transported, it is typically assumed that up to 2kg will spoil. But this scorching heat has pumped that figure to as much as 5kg. This problem is particularly severe for vegetables like brinjals and so we have been forced to stop stocking brinjals at all at our outlet,” says Guha Thakurta.
For vegetables that have gone slightly bad, the store offers a 50 to 70 per cent mark down on the prices but, “this time even those are not selling,” he says.
Baneswar Bag of IA Market has been finding only 15kg of usable vegetables in a crate of 26 kg. “We are facing huge losses as the rest is rotting. Hybrid cucumbers last a bit longer and are cheaper, but they look so dull that no one wants to buy them,” he says.
NKDA Market, Tarak Mondal says needy people have been approaching him to buy slightly rotten vegetables that have gone bad in the heat, of which he has plenty. Prasanta Saha of EC Market is getting such customers too. “But often, the vegetables are so spoiled that I don’t have the heart to ask anyone to eat them,” he says.
Dip in sales
The exorbitant prices have caused a dip in sales.
“Food is the most basic need, so people cannot stop buying vegetables altogether, but they have certainly reduced consumption,” says Santosh Saha of BD Market. “For instance, cucumbers are selling at half the volume they used to. I’m buying them for Rs 90/kg and selling them for Rs 100. In terms of quantity, I’m getting 5kg from the wholesaler instead of 10.”
On Tuesday, Arati Naskar of CK Market had not made a single sale of chilies even by 11am. “Even with other vegetables, I’ve only made paltry sales of Rs 80,” she said.
“How can the middle class afford such rates? At home we have switched to eating more potato-based dishes as this is the only vegetable whose price hasn’t shot up exorbitantly,” said Dhirendra Nath Sen, a 90-year-old shopper at CK Market. He had come from DL Block.
Soma Dey, a resident of One Rajarhat, joked that with vegetables costing this much, fish would soon be the cheaper option. “Since we are already paying through the nose, why not have fish instead? That’s what my family is doing,” said the shopper at NKDA Market.
An IA Block resident said he visits IA Market for all needs except vegetables. “They charge three times the price here,” he said. “I hop over to Beleghata to shop.”
At the Sufal Bangla stall next to HA community hall on Tuesday, a security guard of a nearby house looked around sadly for the cheapest vegetables but left when he saw their stocks had exhausted. “Potol (Rs 50) and Lady’s Finger (Rs 40) are selling out the fastest,” said Das, the vendor.
“Looks like my entire Lakshmir Bhandar money (Rs 1,000 that the government transfers to women who apply for the scheme) will go into buying vegetables,” fumed a woman who worked at a tea stall at NKDA Market. She had overheard The Telegraph Salt Lake speaking to vegetable vendors and could not contain her frustration. “Is this what we voted for?”
Rain hope
While all vendors pray for the rains, Saha of BD Market points out that prices will not normalise magically even after monsoon arrives. “It will take time for the crops to nourish and produce good, adequate vegetables,” he says.
EC Market’s Saha feels that the rains bring their own problems. “This year the heat was exceptional, but every year the monsoon’s heavy rains cause plants to rot in the fields, lead to water-logging of the fields, and create transportation problems. One can only guess if the rains will really bring an end to our problems.”
Write to saltlake@abp.in