Srinagar, July 11: The supply of tomatoes to Kashmir’s fruit mandis has been affected like other parts of the country as the price of one kilogram of tomato has touched to Rs 130 per kg.
The huge spike in tomato prices across the country and in Jammu and Kashmir has been caused due to floods in Himachal Pradesh with one kilogram of tomato sold at Rs 120 to 130 in Srinagar.
President, Parimpora Fruit Mandi, Bashir Ahmed Basheer attributed the spike in tomato price due to the recent spell of rains coupled with floods in Himachal Pradesh which has affected supply.
“The spike in tomato prices has happened due to floods in Himachal Pradesh and the fruit mandi in HP is under flood. HP feeds tomatoes to the whole country. There are huge prices of tomatoes across India. The truckers are unable to load their trucks,” he said.
Basheer said the Srinagar-Jammu Highway was also closed for some days owing to rains in Kashmir and people were also apprehensive of taking the tomato produce from outside.
“Tomatoes are sold at Rs 120 to Rs 130 a kilogram at the Parimpora mandi if there is any. There is a shortage of tomatoes at the fruit mandi and we have not received any supply from the past three days,” he said.
“In think within a week’s time, we would have local tomatoes ready although the quantity is very low. We will also get tomatoes from Bombay,” the president said.
The kitchen staple’s price has increased five times in less than a month. At Rs 130 per kg, the price of tomatoes now is among the highest of all vegetables in the market.
He said the situation would change in a week’s time and expected a decrease in the tomato prices in the country as well as at the Parimpora fruit mandi.
“In the past some years the growers would not fetch the expected prices of their produce. This is for the first time in the recent past that we have seen such a rise in tomatoes,” he said.
Javid Ahmad, who deals with tomatoes at the mandi said tomatoes are easily affected by extreme weather and rains have added to it.
“No one is willing to buy tomatoes for Rs 120 per kilogram. People have already been hit by Covid-19. I don’t think anyone would buy tomatoes if the price remains the same,” he said.
He said July-August and October-November are lean production months for tomatoes. “However, July also sees the onset of the monsoon that adds challenges to the distribution and which is also a reason behind the rise in prices of tomatoes,” he said.
