Truant rains keep vegetables and fruits on boil

PUNE: Craving for some gajar ka halwa? You may have to wait for a couple of more weeks for good quality carrot preferred for making the confection to reach the markets. And, be ready to pay more, too.

This year’s delayed monsoon has not only affected the arrival of some typical winter vegetables and fruits, but has also led to a two-three fold increase in their prices. While carrot and green peas will take a fortnight to a month to reach the markets, strawberries will become easily available only from the first week of December, a delay of more than a month.

November to March is the peak season of green peas and carrots. Erratic rainfall has damaged/delayed local crops at many places.

“The local carrot that comes to Delhi has been delayed. We are getting carrots from areas near Alwar in Rajasthan but they are not preferred for making halwa,” said Ramesh Kumar, carrots trader from Azadpur APMC in Delhi. Traders say the local crop from Haryana and Delhi is less by close to 50% this year. “As against 3000-4000 bags/day last year during this time, we are getting only 600-700 bags/day of carrots,” said Kumar. Green pea prices too are higher than their normal rates for this time of the year.

“Matar is selling almost three times the price of last year,” said Anil Malhotra, committee member of Azadpur APMC. Punjab matar is expected to come after a week. Pune APMC received only four quintals of matar on Wednesday and the prices ranged between Rs 50/kg to Rs 90/kg. Bapu Wadkar, vegetable trader from Pune APMC said, “Arrival of matar is first from Madhya Pradesh. Although the arrival has started, the quality is not good. In most consuming centres outside the growing regions of central and western India, green pea prices are between Rs 60/kg-100/kg.”

Similarly, strawberries, which usually hits market from the last week of October, also have missed their usual harvesting time. The juicy fruit started reaching markets only since the past few days. Balasaheb Bhilare, president, All India Strawberry Growers’ Association said, “The strawberry season has been delayed by almost a month due to delayed rainfall.”