[/caption]News and photo courtesy-The Hindu
The extent of land cultivated under vegetables has increased
HYDERABAD: Visit to the vegetable market is at last free of its horror component. After scorching wallets and kitchens during winter, vegetables have descended from their exalted price positions, providing great reprieve for the common man.
The prices, which troubled even upper-middle-class households by inflating the monthly budgets to absurd levels, have now plummeted equally drastically.
Hybrid tomato, which cost Rs.30 per kilogram three weeks ago, is now down to Rs.8 per kg. Brinjal varieties which cost no less than Rs.20 per kg then, are down to Rs.7 per kg, and Lady-finger's fry can now be relished better on the table, with its price falling from Rs.26 to Rs.22.
Leafy vegetables take the cake of being the best bargain, as most of them are offered in eight big bundles for Rs.10. Even coriander and mint, which cost Rs.5 a bundle a month ago, are now offered for only a rupee per bundle. Another topping is the increased bundle size.
“The reduction in prices is interesting because usually vegetables become cheaper during winter and dearer in summer. But now, we are witnessing a reversal of the ordinary. Anyway, I'm happy because we can now have better menu in low budget,” chuckles M.Ranganayakulu, a customer at Kothapet Rythu Bazar. While the high prices during the past two months were due to untimely rains ravaging crops, the latest drop is attributed to increasing arrivals from the adjacent Ranga Reddy district.
“Daily, about 650 to 700 quintals of vegetables are arriving here as against the 450 to 500 quintals a month ago. Also, the arrivals now are from Maheshwaram, Yacharam, and Ibrahimpatnam mandals of the Ranga Reddy district, whereas earlier they were brought from far off places,” said Md.Rafiuddin, the Assistant Estate Officer at the Kothapet Rythu Bazar.
The additional arrivals owe it to enhancement in the extent of cultivated of land under vegetables, says Govardhan Reddy, a farmer from Shamshabad mandal.
“Many farmers have begun to cultivate vegetables looking at the high price they were yielding.
But it only resulted in a price fall leaving them dejected. It will be a month or more before the rates pick up again,” he says.
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