PUNE: Lack of sustained sunlight due to overcast conditions and less yield have resulted in prices of leafy vegetables going up in retail markets across the city.
A bunch of coriander was selling at Rs40-50, while prices of other leafy vegetables like fenugreek (methi), dill (shepu), and spinach (palak), too, have increased to around Rs30-40 per bunch. Officials at the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC)'s Gultekdi Market Yard said that they were getting fewer arrivals of leafy vegetables from various parts of the district.
Babasaheb Bibve, the head of the vegetable section at Market Yard, told TOI, "The intake is arriving less than the average over the last few days. It is mainly due to widespread excessive rainfall in the district. Thus, we are not getting fresh arrivals from growers. Also, there is a good demand for all types of vegetables in the market in the month of Shravan."
"The leafy vegetables are delicate. We had been getting rain for the last few weeks this month. As a result, our plantations have been damaged by up to 80 percent," said Kaluram Bhadale, a grower from Khed tehsil. A senior agriculture official from the district agriculture office, said, "There are numerous factors involved in the damage of leafy vegetables in the district. If it grows in black soil, where water gets accumulated, then farms suffer maximum loss. Also, if the quality of seeds is not of good standard, growers will not reap good harvest."
