Slight decrease in vegetable prices brings relief to Puneities

By far, the arrival of tomatoes has been the highest with 1429 quintals of the produce arriving Friday this week against the 1335 quintals of last week.Last week, the maximum price for the produce has been Rs 1200 per quintal which this week had reduced to Rs 800 per kg. With the arrival of tomatoes slated to increase even more, further price correction is expected.

Similarly, this Friday, 739 quintals of cluster beans, 780 quintals of green chillies, 259 quintals of bitter gourd and 913 quintals of cauliflower had
arrived. The market last week had seen the arrival of 222 quintals cluster beans, 676 quintals of green chillies, 154 quintals of bitter guard and 753 quintals of cauliflower.

Almost all the vegetables had seen a price drop of around 10-15 per cent. However, the prices of green leafy vegetables like coriander, spinach, spring onions etc have seen either a price rise or a slight dip.

The maximum price of coriander this Friday was Rs 1,200 per 100 bunches which was Rs 700 last Friday. The trend was similar for other greens also. Traders said that failure of rains has resulted in destruction of the green leafy vegetables.

Though the major fruits-and-vegetables producing districts of the state like Pune, Satara, Sangli and Nashik are rain deficient, they have seen slight rain on and off.

Also, many of the farmers who cultivate vegetables have been able to raise crops with stored water which is hitting the market now. Nitin Pawar, a farmer from Junnar taluka of Pune said, with water scarcity looming large over the district many of the farmers have taken to partial cultivation of vegetables as it is less water intensive.

“The crop also gets ready sooner which is commercially viable for us,” he said.