Prices of vegetables, fruits shoot up

Nellore: City residents are expressing anger over skyrocketing of vegetable and fruit prices in summer season. Deficient rainfall has resulted in poor production of vegetables and fruits in the region. The vendors are transporting them from other parts of the country. Till now, onion is the only vegetable which is being sold at Rs 15 per kilogram and the rest are not reachable to the common man.

Tomatoes are common requirement in all houses, and they are being sold at Rs 60 per kg for the last two weeks. Brinjal is at Rs 60, lady's finger at Rs 50, bitter gourd Rs 70, ridge gourd Rs 80, French beans Rs 100, cluster beans Rs 50, green chillies Rs 70, raw banana Rs 15 each, and greens are also pricey as there has been no rainfall.

Fruits are also costly in Nellore city. Apples are being sold at Rs 200 per kilogram, guava at Rs 120, grapes fine variety at Rs 100, black grapes Rs 60, and local varieties from Bengaluru are at Rs 80 per kg. Watermelons Rs 20 per kg, muskmelon Rs 40 a kg, and banana Rs 40 per kg.

Further, supermarkets are charging more from the customers when compared to the municipal markets. No vegetable is available at less than Rs 70 per kg and fruits are inaccessible to consumers. "Because of shortage of vegetables and fruits locally, we are transporting from Bengaluru, Chennai and other states. So, they are bit pricey now and consumers have to bear the situation.

Very few varieties like brinjal, lady's finger, plantain, cluster beans, colocasia, cucumber, greens, and lemons are only from the district. To some extent of snake gourd, bottle gourd and tindoora are available for less cost," said A Babu from the main vegetable market in city.

Further, SK Mastan, a fruit vendor from Chinna Bazaar area, said that fruits are costly due to storage issue. They were incurring huge losses if the stocks remain at least one day due to extreme temperatures.

So, they have to sell at higher price till they get investment and then decrease, he added. He stated that there is no cold storage facility for fruits in the local market and hence have to store at home and bring again next day morning. Considering perishing nature of fruits, they have inevitably to enhance prices, he explained. Till now, onion has been giving relief to the consumers in the city as it is being sold anywhere between Rs 10 to 15 per kg for the last 6 months.