Famous for exporting vegetables to other parts of Odisha and outside, tribal dominated Koraput district is grappling with rising prices of vegetables with no immediate relief in sight.
Pottangi and Semiliguda blocks are the hub of vegetable cultivation in the district. Around 92,000 tonne of cabbage, cauliflower, radish, beans, brinjal, potato, tomato and cucumber was produced in the blocks between July and November, 2013, officers of regulated market committee (RMC), Koraput, said.
This year, the incessant rain towards July-end affected production, officials said. The district had received over 1,100 mm of rainfall on July 27.
"Tribal farmers in remote villages are also facing difficulties to bring their produce to the market due to inclement weather and lack of proper road connectivity resulting in the temporary scarcity of vegetables," said Secretary of RMC (Koraput) Sukant Padhi.
Due to short supply, prices of vegetables like brinjal, bitter gourd, tomatoe and lady's finger have doubled in the past two weeks.
At the Bidyadhar daily market in Jeypore, brinjal is selling for Rs 50 a kg compared to Rs 20, two weeks ago. Lady's finger is priced at Rs 40, Bitter gourd at Rs 50, carrot Rs 40 and bean Rs 50 and tomato Rs 50 a kg. Prices are nearly similar in other markets of the district.
"Procuring vegetables has become so expensive. Around 95% of the vegetable is now being imported from Bangalore and Andhra Pradesh. We hardly have any profit margin," said Ranjan Panigrahi, a vegetable trader of Jeypore market.
"While the supply of vegetables from inside the district has drastically come down, the demand remains the same. Price is bound to go up," he added.
