Trucks from Jaffna signal longawaited drop in veggie prices Short-term onion profits
Vegetable prices are going to start dropping in coming weeks because supplies from Jaffna and Kalpitiya are on their way in. The Director of the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research Institute, Duminda Priyadarsana, said prices kept increasing during the last few months as heavy rains had ruined harvests. He said high prices would be gone in about one and a half month's time, with results coming as soon as within the next two or three weeks with new harvests reaching market hubs.
“Only a few vegetable varieties such as carrots, leeks, green beans, capsicum and local red onions remain at high prices. Other vegetable prices have already started to decline as produce from Jaffna and Kalpitiya have reached the markets,” he said. Prices of brinjals, radish and winged beans were dropping.
Mr. Priyadarsana said the price of local red onions would remain high at about Rs. 1,200 as there was a shortage of onion seedlings. Imported onions were affordable as 29,000 tons of brown onions had been imported from Egypt, Turkey and Bangladesh last month.
Consumers are finding it difficult to cope with the prolonged increase in prices.
Indika Premaratne, 55, who makes a living selling sweep tickets in Kalpitiya, said he was constantly having to look for substitutes, buy alternative vegetables as the varieties he usually bought had become too expensive.
“We do not need excuses from the government: we need the prices of vegetables reduced to a level that is convenient for everyone,” he said sternly. “If there is a shortage of manpower they can make use of prisoners.”
Traders associations said there would not be a significant decrease in prices until harvests of other areas reached markets.
K. A. Rupasinghe, a resident of Hanwella, said there was only a slight difference in prices between the Colombo markets and regional markets such as those in his town.
“Most of the vegetables I bought cost more than Rs. 50- 70 for 250 grams,” he said. Sometimes he could not afford to buy all the vegetables he needed. Another shopper, 5 5 - ye a r- o l d Swarnawathi Liyanage, was in the same straits.
A resident of Kotahena, Kalpan Ganeshan, who shops at the Pettah market, said prices had begun rising in November.
“I work in the private sector and our salaries don’t increase like the vegetable prices. I’m finding it difficult to buy enough vegetables for a family of four,” he said.
In Matale, it is damp and misty with constant falls of rain, and farmers say the weather is making it impossible to spray chemical fertiliser on fields of new crops. The meteorology department said more rains were expected in the Central Province in coming days.
Despite the rain, vegetable prices at the Dambulla Economic Centre have begun decreasing as Jaffna produce start to come in. Although prices of carrots, beetroot, leeks and cabbage remain high, radishes, ladies’ fingers, winged beans and kekiri can now be had for Rs. 80-100 per 500g.
Traders associations said there would not be a significant decrease in prices until harvests of other areas reached markets. To date there had been a Rs.1020 drop in overall prices.
The President of the Dambulla Merchants Association, Channa Eraula expects prices to decrease in the next three weeks. “The rainy weather led farmers to cultivate paddy – this was the main reason for the shortage of vegetables,” he said.
Mr. Eraulla said merchants are planning to meet President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to discuss the problems of onion farmers, stop onion importation and set up a long-term plan to keep vegetable prices constant throughout the year.
Additional reporting: Mahesh Keerthiratne in Matale