The price of potato has risen by Rs 9 per kg in a month in the wholesale market. In the retail market it is up by over Rs 12 per kg. It was Rs 16 per kg on May 7 whereas it is priced at Rs 25 per kg in wholesale at Kalimati market — the largest vegetable and fruit wholesale centre in Kathmandu.
Manoj Dhital, market operations officer of Kalimati Fruits and Vegetable Market Development Board, said that quantity of vegetables arriving in recent months has lessened due to a drop in output in the districts.
“Demand for vegetables is increasing due to a rising population, but supply is going down pushing prices up,” he said.
Vegetable prices have skyrocketed in recent months due to reduced production caused by prolonged drought last winter.
According to the board, tomatoes are at Rs 36 per kg as compared to Rs 30 on May 7.The price of other vegetables such as carrots, cabbages and cauliflowers has also gone up significantly.
Only the price movement of dry onions followed a deviant path — the price has almost halved to Rs 18 per kg. The Kalimati vegetable market (KVM) received only 1,77,389 tonnes of vegetables last year while deliveries during the previous year amounted to 203,511 tonnes.
Most of the farmers delivering the vegetables to KVM are from Dhading, Kavre, Makwanpur, Chitwan, Bhaktapur, Kathmandu.
Fourteen per cent of the farmers are from India. The maximum quantity of vegetables come from Dhading, around 19.64 per cent.
“Vegetables produced in the valley meet only 20 per cent of the local demand. Most of the vegetables produced here are greens,” Dhital said. Bara, Jhapa, Morang, Nawalparasi, Parsa, Rautahat, Sarlahi, Sunsari and Tanahun districts are also major exporters to the valley. Prem Bahadur Karki said,”We must make it to Kalimati by 4 am because at this time of the year, when the sun is up and warm at 7 am, most of the good veggies are already taken.” Vendors like Karki earn anywhere between Rs 1,500-2,000 a day. “Kathmandu Valley depends on potatoes from neighbouring places around the city, such as Nala, Banepa, Mudhe, Jiri and Panauti,” said Radhika Khadka, a vendor at the Kalimati vegetable market. The market supplies around 70 per cent of the the valley’s requirements.
“Due to unrest in Tarai Indian truckers have doubled transport charges, pushing up mar ket prices sharply,” said Mahendra Lal Das, another trader.
Flood in the Tarai region has also aggravated production woes and supply of vegetables.
’It is very hard to pay such outrageous rates for these common vegetables,’’ saids Nabin Kayastha while buying vegetables at KVM. ‘’Prices have been skyrocketing for the last few months. Common people like us can barely afford to eat fresh vegetables these days,” he said.
At the local market, vendor Sarita Maharjan said that she was not to blame for the high prices.
‘’We ourselves have to pay ridiculously high prices to wholesalers. Also due to low production, prices have remained higher at this time of year,’’ said Maharjan. Dhital on the other hand lamented that since vegetables are perishable in nature it is not profitable for sellers to keep it for a long time.
“There is no way that a fake scarcity will effect the rise in prices of vegetables,” said Dhital.
Food price inflation is still a key concern. Year-on-year inflation figures for May saw a 24.6 per cent rise in vegetable prices.
No comments:
Post a Comment