Pratap, a vegetable seller from Boreya near the Capital City had paid for 50 kg of lady finger at Rs38 a kg to a whole veggie supplier on last Saturday to be delivered on Wednesday morning which he had to bring to Morhabadi for retail selling. He was supplied only 20 Kg out of demand, that also at escalated price of Rs40 a Kg, leaving no other alternative for him to sell it at no less than Rs50 a Kg to customers in twice a week market at Morhabadi.
“Talk to anybody here, and everyone has similar story to tell. The fact is that local supply has destroyed due to incessant three-day long lasting rain last week. None of the green vegetable we have been purchasing after that has been coming to us for less than Rs40 a Kg or around. What will we do if we don’t sell them even at Rs50, as all are highly perishable and even a single Kg perished vegetable with us at last eats up entire profit margin,” said Pratap on Wednesday at Morhabadi vegetable market.
Talking to veggie seller around, what comes out remains a literal fact. “Year after year, we have been facing similar problem during these months. One year little relieved, another year completely lost is our fate. Good thing is that those who can afford are purchasing and those who can’t, just pass away,” said another vegetable seller Malti from Kanke, who added that the capital city remained import-fed these days, hence no chance for veggie prices to come down.
Most of the sellers believe that last week rain was one of the major factors of veggie prices skyrocketing these days. Ironically, officials the department mandated to monitor prices and coming up with solutions to keep them within reach of common men, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, did have meeting with trade body FJCCI on July 24 only to come to know that veggie sellers possessed right to sell their goods above cost price no matter at what price they purchased. “I can’t comment on efforts being made by other departments. But I must assure you that the whole situation will change drastically from next year, as we have mapped requirements of State and have headed towards calculative farming in which entire situation has been taken into consideration. We are persuading farmers to sow according to the need and supply of vegetables and food grains during previous years. Moreover, we are going to have at least some of the cold storages ready in months to come. So, this is probably the last year of such difficulties,” said Agriculture Director Rajeev Kumar.