Prices of vegetables and pulses are set to shoot up after unseasonal rain damaged over 50 lakh hectares of standing crops across the country, putting enormous strain on household budgets.
Consumers will have to pay more for potatoes, carrots, cabbages, mustard and almost all the pulses over the next few weeks. Rain in northern, central and western parts has caused widespread damage to crops in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
Inclement weather not only affects production but also the quality of agricultural produce, besides hampering movement of supplies throughout the supply chain, exacerbating the situation and pushing up wholesale inflation.
Wholesale Price Index-based inflation in February reflected higher food prices at 7.74 per cent. Further upward pressure in prices could force the Reserve Bank of India to think twice on policy rate cuts at its policy meeting early next month. Vegetable prices rose 15.5 per cent, while fruits surged 16.84 per cent. Prices for the politically significant onion rose 26 per cent.
Widespread damage The Centre has estimated that standing crops over 50 lakh hectares (lh) were damaged — 27 lh in Uttar Pradesh, 14.5 lh in Rajasthan, 7.5 lh in Maharashtra, 50,000 hectares in West Bengal and at least 6,000 hectares in Punjab. “Wheat on some 6-7 acres of my 20 acres has been destroyed. Seasonal vegetables, potatoes in particular, besides cabbage and carrots have been affected,” said Karamjit Sidhu, a farmer from Kotla Suraj Lohar village in Amritsar district.
Farmers from UP said potato and mustard crops have been badly affected as also wheat, while pulses such as chickpea ( chana ), black gram ( urad ) and green gram ( moong ) have been hit to a lesser extent.
“Almost the entire mustard crop has been flattened,” said Rajiv Kumar, who owns 13 acres in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh. “The impact on wheat is less but more for mustard with hailstorms in Rajasthan and UP. There won’t be much addition to inflation on the basis of a slight fall in wheat output.
“It’s not clear how much damage there has been to potato and perishables,” said Suresh Pal, who heads the Division of Agricultural Economics at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute.
Wholesale and retail prices of vegetables, such as bitter gourd, cauliflower and brinjal, have already shot up this month in the Capital. Agriculture Produce Market Committee data showed that the average price of brinjal increased some 19 per cent to ₹17.6/kg in March from February.
During the same period, cauliflower prices rose to ₹20/kg from around ₹ 14/kg. Retail prices for bitter gourd and lady's finger have surged by 20 per cent, selling at ₹ 120/kg from ₹ 100 a month ago. Retailers expect prices, which have gone up by about ₹ 5/kg for most vegetables, to remain high with fresh arrivals not expected soon.
Delhi Govt acts Agriculture Ministry officials refrained from giving estimates of the damage, but Delhi Government officials Gopal Rai and Asim Ahmed Khan convened a meeting this week to check the steadily rising prices and announce emergency measures.
These included the display prices of major vegetables at wholesale market yards and keeping an eye on commission agents.