Bad weather blamed for poor harvest, high prices of upcountry veggies
The prices of upcountry vegetables produced in Nuwara Eliya and surrounding areas have skyrocketed. Carrots, leeks, beets, cabbage, broccoli and radish are being sold at high prices not just in Nuwara Eliya town, but also in Kandy and Colombo.
In Nuwara Eliya town, carrots and leaks are being sold at Rs. 350. The supply of cabbage, beets and radish to the Nuwara Eliya Economic Centre has come down drastically and on Friday, many vegetable stalls in the economic centre had very few vegetables.
Far mers say the vegetable harvest has reduced by as much as 50 percent this year. This has been mainly due to the worst ever southwestern monsoon in 20 years. As such, consumers have had to pay a lot more to purchase vegetables such as carrot, beet and leaks. The reduced vegetable harvest and the resultant increase in prices has caused severe inconvenience not just to farmers but consumers as well.
Ajith Kumara, a farmer and a Councillor from Nuwara Eliya Municipality who has been a farmer and businessman for 25 years said, “The cultivated lands were destroyed due to the tor re n t i a l rains and the planted seeds and plants did not grow properly."
He said a field that would usually yield 10, 000 kilos of car rot, yielded only about 2000 kilos.“Even if farmers sell carrots for Rs. 300, they still don’t get a profit. Most people believe that the farmers are making a killing, but in reality, many are in debt and have even pawned their jewellery to get by.”
He also said the ability to grow hybrid vegetables whereby many crops that would previously only grow in Nuwara Eliya, being planted in other areass also impacted negatively.
He said the Government and agricultural institutions should intervene and address the crisis faced by vegetable farmers in the upcountry.
Christy Leonard, a vegetable vendor at the Nuwara Eliya Economic Centre said that he has been buying and distributing vegetables on a mass scale for 30 years and has 50 people working for him. He said while they usually send some 200 sacks of vegetables to Colombo on a daily basis, they now struggle to send even 100.