Select vegetables' prices crash on farmers' rush for sale

Vegetables prices crashed in the last two weeks due to farmers’ rush for sale on fears of high spoilage due to sudden rise in temperature across the country.

Data compiled by the government owned National Horticulture Board (NHB) showed cauliflower in the wholesale Mumbai mandi slumped by a staggering 25% since March 17 to trade currently at Rs 6 a kg (model price). Bitter gourd and brinjal in Delhi plunged steeply by 31.4% and 36.4% in two weeks to Rs 24 (model price) and Rs 8.75 a kg (model price) respectively. Similarly, okra in Kolkata wholesale market fell by 25.7% to Rs 26 a kg (model price).

Following the wholesale markets, retail price also fell with garlic in Mumbai slumped to Rs 80 a kg, a decline of 20% in two weeks. Similarly, bitter gourd in Kolkata fell by a staggering 30% to 28 a kg.

The steep fall in vegetables’ prices have worried farmers a lot with a number of them plan to switch to alternative crops next year for better realization. Interestingly, farmers switch to more remunerative crops bring in more worry for them as all growers in the particular region sow the same seeds at one go.

“There is a bumper vegetables crop this year. Hence, prices have declined due to a sharp increase in arrivals over the last few weeks. Also, farmers do not want to hold harvested goods amid fear of high spoilage following a sudden increase in temperature in the last two weeks,” said Sriram Gadhave, President, All India Vegetables Growers’ Association.

Interestingly, farmers rapidly switch to alternative crops. Unfortunately, the crop that the farmers assume to fetch more money, in fact, bring in more tensions for disposal at the time of harvesting as sowing of one particular crop brings in record productivity in one season. Same farmers, however, regret for switching of crops while harvesting as is happening in the case of potato currently. Farmers are literally burning potato in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh as the prevailing price does not fetch even the transportation cost. Therefore, it is important for farmers and policy makers to advise farmers and help them to take an intelligent decision for sowing of balanced crops depending upon the climatic conditions.

“Some companies have stated farm advisory services which may help farmers. But, their advisory on farmers’ accurate decision in terms of sowing, weather condition, time of harvesting and marketing of their produce for better realization would take a long time for bringing farmers out of distress. In fact, these agriculture technology companies will have a long way to go for changing fortunes of farmers,” said Sanjay Bhujbal, a vegetable stockists at Vashi.

Meanwhile, vegetables in short supply remained firm across the country. For example, the unseasonal vegetable - green peas - in Mumbai jumped by a phenomenal 44% to trade currently at Rs 44 a kg in the wholesale market. The price of peas in retail, however, jumped faster by 66.7% to Rs 50 a kg in here. Similarly, tomato in the retail Delhi market jumped by 25% to Rs 25 a kg and cabbage in Kolkata retail shot up by 37.5% to Rs 11 a kg.

“Increased supply from Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh is keeping vegetables supply uninterrupted as of now. However, with increasing temperature and falling water levels in reservoirs, vegetable harvesting will be impacted in coming weeks. We expect a majority of vegetables’ prices to increase by Rs 5-8 a kg in wholesale markets in April,” said Rajiv Tevtiya, Managing Director, RML AgTech, a city-based crop advisory company.

According to the first advanced estimate from the Ministry of Agriculture, total area under horticulture sowing reported marginally lower at 24.37 million ha for 2016-17 compared to 24.47 million ha in the previous year. The Ministry forecasts horticulture output at 287.32 million tonnes for 2016-17 compared to 286.19 million tonnes for the last year.

An independent consultancy firm, RML AgTech estimates vegetables production at 168.59 million tonnes for 2016-17, a marginal decline from 169.06 million tonnes in the previous year.

Model Price ( Rs/Qtl)	Mumbai			Delhi			KOLKATA			CHENNAI
(Rs/QTL)	17-03-2017	31-03-2017	% change	17-03-2017	31-03-2017	% change	17-03-2017	31-03-2017	% change	17-03-2017	31-03-2017	% change
BITTER_GOURD	2200	2100	-4.5	3500	2400	-31.4	2900	1500	-48.3	2500	2200	-12.0
BRINJAL_LONG	0	0		750	450	-40.0	2600	2400	-7.7	0	0
BRINJAL_ROUND	900	900	0.0	1375	875	-36.4	2100	1950	-7.1	2300	3000	30.4
CABBAGE	400	500	25.0	200	180	-10.0	475	590	24.2	1100	1500	36.4
CAULIFLOWER	800	600	-25.0	625	575	-8.0	1500	1700	13.3	3100	3100	0.0
GARLIC	5500	3800	-30.9	3750	3125	-16.7	4000	4600	15.0	8500	7500	-11.8
GINGER	1800	2000	11.1	2050	2200	7.3	2369	2450	3.4	3700	3700	0.0
CHILLY	2800	1800	-35.7	1900	1700	-10.5	3250	2500	-23.1	2300	2700	17.4
OKRA	2200	2200	0.0	4333	3850	-11.1	3500	2600	-25.7	3200	2800	-12.5
ONION	650	650	0.0	780	775	-0.6	875	663	-24.2	1200	1200	0.0
PEAS	2500	3600	44.0	1950	2575	32.1	2450	2650	8.2	2700	3500	29.6
POTATO_FRESH	800	750	-6.3	470	475	1.1	430	460	7.0	1100	1100	0.0
TOMATO_HYBRID	1400	1500	7.1	1080	1075	-0.5	650	800	23.1	1700	2100	23.5
TOMATO_LOCAL	700	700	0.0	990	1175	18.7	880	950	8.0	1500	1900	26.7