Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)
Mangaluru, Oct 22: The season of festivals has begun. With the onset of the season, prices of fruits, vegetables and flowers have begun to move up.
Many seek to consume vegetarian food during the Navaratri period. Therefore, there has been an increase in the demand for fruits and vegetables. As the supply level is also matching up the demand, their prices have not gone up. But flowers have become costly with the beginning of the Navaratri festival.
Among the vegetables, cabbage which used to be sold at eight to ten rupees a kg a week back is now commanding a price of Rs 50. Carrot has jumped from Rs 40 a few days back to Rs 80 now. Other vegetables are almost at the same price as the previous week except for the onions. It is said that even though there is heavy rainfall in north Karnataka, APMCs have already received some stock of all vegetables and hence the prices have remained stable. Merchant Ashfaq expects the prices to go up in the coming days.
Fruit vendor Salam Merchant says that compared to the previous year, demand has been far less in this festival season. He says that fruit prices have not picked up and the fruits are sold at the same rate they were being sold a couple of weeks back.
Two arm lengths of chrysanthemum are sold at Rs 70, Kakada is sold at Rs 100 and zinnia Rs 80. Marigold is priced at Rs 80, while jasmine is sold between Rs 150 and 500 per Kuchu. Flowers are brought here from Haveri, Mysuru, Kunigal, Hassan etc. Because of heavy rain and flood, a lot of flowers have been damaged and therefore, the prices have gone up now. In the coming days, prices may go up further. More flower merchants from other districts are expected to come here from other districts to market their products.
Cucumber is sold at Rs 20 per kg, okra Rs 40, ridge gourd Rs 50, Coccinia (ghat variety) Rs 36, beetroot Rs 44, bitter gourd Rs 45 and beans Rs 50.
The similar rate increase has also been noticed in Udupi where tomato which was sold at Rs 28 per kg at the beginning of the festival season is priced at Rs 40 now, onions are sold at Rs 95, potato price has gone up to Rs 50 from 40, while pomegranate costs Rs 100 to 120 per kg.