Exotic vegetables a hit at Ahmedabad Kisan Bazar

“People are ready to pay for it,” said Jay Patel from Visnagar,who had brought more than 100 kg of strawberry tomatoes,which are of the size of strawberries and sour in taste like strawberries.

Priced at Rs 50 per kg,Patel had a beeline of customers for his exotic tomatoes on Friday afternoon and it was sold within an hour.

One of the customers Minal Patel said her children liked it and it was not always available and hence,she was buying it.

Other exotic varieties,which are also described as “Chinese vegetables” by the locals for their peculiar look,included broccoli,purple cabbage,and red and yellow capsicum supplied by farmers from Prantij in neighbouring Sabarkantha district.

A farmer from Bhavnagar had come with a variety of potato which he called “sugar-free potatoes” as he claimed it was less sweeter than the regular potatoes with high percentage of carbohydrate sold in the market.

Though the prices of both the exotic and the staple varieties here are 30 to 50 per cent lower than that in other vegetable markets in the city and all the commodities are also comparatively fresh,many customers complained that the Bazar lacked variety in the staple category.

Madhu Patel,a housewife,said the vegetables here were fresh and good but only some varieties were available. “Supposing if green chillies are not available,then the customer will have to go to another market,which will be very inconvenient. The next time the customer will think several times before coming to this market,” she said.

While Harshad Patel,retired government officer,made similar complaints,T M Parikh,who lives in the Satellite Flats,felt the idea of KB was very good but it lacked proper management.

“The authorities behind launching the KB must ensure that all the varieties are available like in any other vegetable market,” said Parikh,an engineer having spent several years in the US. “Otherwise,it will not succeed,” he added.

Interestingly,many farmers selling their produce here categorically stated that they were not interested in retail sale in Ahmedabad as it was not profitable to them. This is despite the fact that they have been provided stalls with facilities like free power supply for two months.

The reason: all these farmers come from places like Prantij and Modasa in Sabarkantha,Visnagar in Mehsana district and villages in Dascroi taluka of Ahmedabad,35 to 100 kms away.

They say it is not profitable to them because they have to bear the transportation expenses and also spend the whole day at KB at the cost of their farming.

This explains why all the 29 stalls set up at KB had not been occupied by the farmers. There were only 10 stalls operating on Friday and 18 on Thursday.

“At the end,farmers don’t gain anything,” said a farmer.

Another farmer said that he had been coming to the market for the last three days because he was forced by the district agriculture authorities.