ROURKELA: A day after tomato price rose to Rs 100 per kg in Koraput district, the price of the staple vegetable for kitchen soared to Rs 120 a kg in Sundargarh on Friday. Amid shortfall of supply, skyrocketing vegetable prices across Rourkela and elsewhere in the district have hit the common man hard. Most of the vegetables are being sold at Rs 40 per kg and more.
Retailers at the Traffic Gate Market, one of the largest vegetable markets of the city, on Friday said tomato is priced at an unprecedented Rs 120 per kg, a hike of almost three times in a fortnight. While capsicum is selling at Rs 80 per kg, drumstick, cauliflower and coriander leaves are available for Rs 60 per kg. To kill the taste buds, prices of garlic and ginger have increased to Rs 80 per kg while green chilly is sold at Rs 100 a kg.
Commonly used vegetables, including brinjal, lady’s finger, radish, bitter gourd, ridge gourd, cow pea, beetroot and carrot are sold at Rs 40 per kg. Only the price of teasel gourd has come down to Rs 30 from Rs 60 per kg a week ago. Prices of pointed gourd and plantain are moderate at Rs 30 per kg while cabbage and pumpkin are selling at Rs 20 per kg.
Sources said bulk of the vegetable demand of the city is met by farmers of Nuagaon, Bisra, Lathikata and Kuanrmunda blocks and adjacent rural pockets of Jharkhand. From December-end to mid-February, vegetable prices had dipped to unprecedented levels amid surplus production of locally grown vegetables. Then 3 kg of tomato was priced at Rs 10 and cauliflower was sold at Rs 10 per kg while garden pea and capsicum were sold at as low as Rs 12 and Rs 20 per kg respectively.
Sundargarh Deputy Director of Agriculture RN Satpathy said shortage in supply of vegetables from July to September due to monsoon rain is common leading to price hike. He said vegetable crops grown on upland by farmers from mid-June are likely to reach the local markets in the next 45 to 60 days and hoped that prices would then come down.