Rise in vegetable prices temporary: Govt

Terming rise in vegetable prices in the national capital as "temporary phenomenon", the government today said that transportation bottlenecks due to rains and extreme cold weather have led to supply disruption of some produce.
Agriculture Secretary Ashish Bahuguna said the supply would get better in the coming days once the weather improves.
He added that there are no reports as of now about crop damage due to cold weather.
Barring potato, wholesale prices of all vegetables have risen sharply this month as against a year ago. Prices of some winter veggies like carrot, cauliflower, cabbage and peas have increased more than two-folds, as per the APMC data.

"It is a temporary phenomenon, prices will subside once weather improves. We normally see some spurt in prices of vegetables for 3-4 days in winter every year. This is due to transportation bottlenecks caused because of extreme cold, fog and rains," Bahuguna told PTI.
Also, farmers normally do not harvest when it rains and this has also believed to have affected the supplies, he said.

Asked if export of key veggies to Pakistan has caused price increase, the Secretary said, "There is a limit on what we export to Pakistan. The borders cannot handle more than a particular quantity."
According to Azadpur Mandi APMC (Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee) member Mahinder Kumar, "Prices in the wholesale were more or less stable during last month, but with the start of this month prices have started to increase due to supply constraints as key vegetables like tomatoes are being exported to Pakistan."

Besides tomatoes, other vegetables which are exported to neighbouring country are peas, capsicum and lady finger.
At Azadpur mandi, cauliflower is available at Rs 23/kg now, as against Rs 7/kg in the same period last year. Cabbage is available at Rs 27 per kg as against 17/kg, while carrot prices are ruling at Rs 12/kg as against Rs 5/kg in the review period, as per APMC data.
Tomato prices have increased by 75 per cent to Rs 27/kg now as against Rs 12/kg in the year-ago month, while potato and onion prices are ruling stable at Rs 8/kg and Rs 15/kg, respectively.

Similarly, prices have soared at some of retail markets in the national capital.