Every winter when there’s a chill in the air, people look for their fix of avarekai or hyacinth beans. But this year, though it’s mid-December — the peak of the avarekai season — the city’s favourite beans are not easily found in markets.
“By this time of the year, markets would have been flooded with avarekai and it would have become a staple at home. But not this time. Even those ready to pay a steep price are finding it difficult to find stock,” said Asha Kumari, a software engineer from South Bengaluru.
The recent spell of heavy rain has played havoc, causing widespread damage to crops, including avarekai, in the State. “Rains in October and November have led to large-scale crop damage, even before flowering. The best avarekai with sogadu is harvested when the beans mature in the mist. But there is almost no crop for that this season. Farmers like myself, who had planted avarekai in Ramanagaram, Kolar, Chickballapur, and Bengaluru Rural districts, have suffered huge losses,” said Chennathimmaiah, an avarekai farmer from Magadi.
This in turn has hit supply in the city’s markets by an estimated 70%. “The supply of avarekai this year is less than even 30% of the usual when compared with previous years. There is a clear supply and demand mismatch. Despite trying hard, we are not able to procure adequate quantities of avarekai. There is no crop,” explained a chief procurement official at a leading chain of grocery stores in the city.
Umesh Mirji, managing director, Horticultural Producers’ Cooperative Marketing and Processing Society (HOPCOMS), concurred. By mid-December, the price of a kilo of avarekai usually drops to around ₹20-₹30. But this year, it is still hovering around ₹50-₹60.
Vegetable prices tend to be on the higher side in winter. But the flood of avarekai usually results in less demand for other veggies, which acts as a counter-balance. This year, there is no relief for households. Excessive rains in October and November have caused widespread crop damage to both vegetables and avarekai, causing their prices to skyrocket. The price of at least seven staples such as tomato, beans, knol-khol, and brinjal cost more than ₹100 a kg. “If there was sufficient avarekai in the market it would have automatically ensured that the prices of other vegetables stabilised. But this season seems bad. It will be at least a month — around Sankranti — before the new crop of vegetables is harvested and prices come down,” said the procurement official of the grocery chain.