According to Kalimati Fruits and Vegetables Market Development Board, the price of popular vegetables such as tomato, potato, dry onions, carrot, cabbage, local cauliflower and French bean has gone up over the last two weeks.
“As farmers are busy in paddy farms, daily arrivals of agro-products such as vegetables, fruits, fresh fish and spices combined have dipped to 350 to 400 tons from 600 to 650 tons a day during normal season,” said Binaya Shrestha, planning officer, at the board. During the period, wholesale price of big and small tomato rose to Rs 48 and Rs 42 per kg from Rs 38 and Rs 30 per kg respectively. Similarly price of local cauliflower and French beans shot up to Rs 42 and 55 per kg from Rs 30 per kg each over the period. Red Potato and cabbage also became dearer over the period by Rs 5 per kg each over the period.
Vegetable vendors said prices of vegetables went up due to low supplies from leading vegetable producing districts such as Makawanpur, Dhading, Kavre, Nuwakot, Chitwan, Sarlahi and Siraha. “Supplies of popular items such as cauliflower, radish, carrots from Palung of Makawanpur have gone down remarkably and arrivals from others districts are also decreasing,” said Geeta Prasad Acharya, a wholesaler at the Kalimati market. Tarai floods for the last few days have also affected supplies of vegetables like lady finger and bitter gourd.
However, prices of major fruits have declined, despite relatively higher demand during the festive season. Price of apple dropped to Rs 140 per and banana to Rs 40 per dozen from Rs 195 and Rs 45 respectively over the period. Similarly, papaya and pomegranate also become cheaper over the period. Price per kg of papaya dropped to Rs 40 from Rs 55, while price per kg of pomegranate dropped to Rs 140 from Rs 145. Traders said prices of fruits depend on supplies from India, as most of seasonal fruits enter the country from the southern neighbor.
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