PUNE: The Gultekdi market yard for vegetables, fruits, flowers and grocery items recorded an excess intake of all farm produce on Monday, following the first weekend lockdown.
An official from the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) said the farmers thronged the market with their produce as the market witnessed 1,500 vehicles, as against the normal daily arrivals of 800 to 850 vehicles.
Madhukant Garad, chief administrator of the APMC, Pune, said, “We got 32,638 quintals of agriculture produce, including leafy vegetables, onion, potato and fruits. Last Monday, we had received 24,700 quintals of the same. Today (Monday), it was 7,938 quintals more than last Monday. This is adequate to meet Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad’s requirements. We expect vegetable prices to remain stable in local mandis.”
Rates of all vegetables and fruits remained stable. Onion was sold in the Rs5 to Rs12 per kg range and potato was also sold in the range of Rs6 to Rs16 per kg. Rates of leafy vegetables were also in the normal bracket. A bunch of coriander was sold in the Rs5 to Rs12 range, fenugreek was in the Rs7 to Rs12 range and spinach was in the Rs4 to Rs10 bracket.
Talking about the crowd management, Garad said, “We have banned domestic purchase at the market, in view of the increasing crowd here. Also, small-time vendors, who sell the produce on handcarts and set up stalls in the market, too have been stopped. Restaurants on our campus have been told to provide parcel service.”
Shivlal Bhosale, a commission agent, said, “It will be a difficult task for the administration to control the crowd at the market as thousands of them will be working together daily.” A section of the commission agents said that the APMC could resort to last year’s strategy of running each section on alternate days. “The measure had controlled the crowd significantly in the market,” a commission agent said.
While another agent said last year’s measure would go against the farmers as they wouldn’t be able to sell their harvest quickly. “Many farmers could not sell their produce last year because of this system,” the agent said.
Wholesale rates of flowers remain stable
Rates of flowers remained stable in Gultekdi’s flower markets on Monday, said Bala Sewale, head of the flower section. “There was adequate supply of all flowers. Hence, there was no change in the rates. Marigold flowers, which were in demand because of the upcoming Gudi Padwa celebrations, were sold in the range of Rs40 to Rs45 per kg,” he said.