Andhra Pradesh, WB vegetables, eggs, fish dominate local markets
It was a fine Saturday morning at Bimala, a tiny hamlet in the Maoist-prone Telkoi block in Keonjhar district, close to the border of Dhenkanal. The region is rich in forests and mountains. Tribals had congregated at a weekly market. It had vegetables, rice, groceries, house wares, fish and scores of multicoloured country hens and cocks and wine.
Basically the market has a name in the locality for fresh and cheap vegetables. The tribals sell their home grown vegetables and wild mushrooms. Simple-hearted that they are, the tribals give more stress on satisfying the buyers than profit.
But that day was different. The space of the fresh and home grown had been invaded by the ones brought from outside. There were hybrid parwals, drum sticks up to a meter long, yellowish and tall ladies finger, huge pumpkins etc. The leafy vegetables had made a vanishing act. Half a dozen local tribals had opened their wares in small quantities, which chiefly contained papaya, green banana, green chili, snake gourd and so on.
The imported vegetables were sold by some master vendors adept in the art of profiteering. The market was virtually at their beck and call. Each vegetable was costly, sold much at the same cost as in urban towns. The parwal was sold at Rs 40 a kg, drum stick at Rs 80 a kg and pumpkin at Rs 20 a kg. Potato and tomato were creating heartburn, sold at Rs 35 to Rs 60 a kg and that too was of very low quality. Onion, ginger, garlic and turmeric were all imported items, sans their natural taste and smell.
A ride of about 20 km from there towards Telkoi and interaction with road side vegetable vendors and Panwalas, who too were found selling different vegetables on small bamboo baskets, cleared the picture of how rural belt of the State was vulnerable to the whims and caprices of the dishonest vegetable merchants and hoarders of the State as well as of the neighbouring producer States. Everywhere the Andhra banana, drum stick, egg, chili etc, Maharashtra onion, ginger and garlic and West Bengal potato were a common sight. It was as if the diligent and self-sufficient rural Odisha was numbed, reduced to a parasite.
Some of the local vendors were rather happy with the imported items. “See, we do not have much produce in the villages these days. If one goes to collect vegetables from the local growers, it is painstaking as one has move in a bicycle on long and circuitous roads. But the items from outside reach us here suo motto. The wholesaler ensures that the wares reach the retailers through vehicles at his own risk. It is just a matter of placing order over phone. Besides, the vegetables and fruits brought from outside markets fetch better price. The profit margin is higher in these items,” said Sagarm, who has a betel shop where several items including vegetables are sold.
Another vendor chuckled, “Can we ever expect to get cauliflower in our backyard these daysIJ Drum stick is also a dream at our home. But these items are now easily available.” He was pointing at a basket of rotten cauliflowers on a basket, whose leafs had withered and the vegetable had grown pale, yellowish-white. He had a bag full of potato but those who came to him with bowl full of paddy or rice kept in a saree end to buy the pricy tuber, he was turning them down. For the man knew the value of a bowl of rice or paddy or mustard seed was no match for the cost of the potato, whose supply had been called off and which was being sold at a very stiff price in the towns.
When asked why have they left the land barren as that should be growing lots of bitter gourds, pumpkins, parwals and beans. “Rains have spoiled the crops. Besides I do not have easy availability of water. I source water from a bamphi (small dug out well),” said Makru Dandsena, adding that he was getting no assistance from the Government officials as he never approached anyone. He also blamed the local men for not willing to provide manual labour. He said that production cost was growing as cost of all inputs was high, including labourer charge.
A few locals said the Government had been providing them enough freebies. They said that since PDS rice is abundantly made available by the Government, they need not have to go to farmlands to toil there. They said they were earning more by working for the contractors in towns than as agricultural labourers or wage earners in the MGNREGS projects.
There is little wonder that vegetables, fruits and eggs from far-off Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra and other States are not just confined to the boundaries of the towns and cities, but have made their inroads into the interior rural parts. The rural inhabitants are not producing vegetables as they used to and their dependence on the imported items has increased as much as their urban counterparts. As a result, when there is a problem in the supply chain from the neighbouring States, the rural Odisha too is facing the heat.