Lower production in Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu leads to higher costs. This festival season might be a costly affair with vegetable prices being abnormally high for the last month, and escalating rapidly during the last week due to Navaratri.
“Vegetables from Ooty, such as carrot and beetroot are in great demand and are very costly. We get only half the usual supply from Ooty these days,” said N. Satheeshan, who runs a wholesale vegetable shop at Kallai in Kozhikode.
The price of carrots is close to ₹100 per kg or more while beetroot is priced at around ₹70 per kg. “The price of drumstick has soared recently; close to the Pooja holidays,” Mr. Satheeshan said.
On the other hand, the price of tomatoes has slightly come down in the last two days. “The cost was around ₹920 on Saturday for one box (27 kg) while it is ₹820 now,” said K. Radhakrishnan, who sells tomatoes at Palayam vegetable market in Kozhikode. He used to bring tomatoes from Mysore earlier but now he sources them from Tamil Nadu. “They are of better quality, but costlier,” he said.
The vendors say that climate change and unexpected rain in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have led to this drastic rise in the prices of vegetables. “Many farmers lost their crops in the floods, while others had lowered their production. With a high demand, which the farmers there are unable to meet, the prices are bound to go up,” Mr. Radhakrishnan said.
He expects the vegetable prices to come down only after Deepavali, which is towards the end of the month. “The demand for vegetables is high during the festival season and hence the high price,” he said.
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