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Trucks from Jaffna signal long- awaited drop in veggie prices
Vegetable prices may be on the way down. Pic by Priyantha Wickramarachchi
The Director of the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research Institute, Duminda Priyadarsana, said prices kept increasing during the last few months as heavy rains had ruined harvests. He said high prices would be gone in about one and a half month’s time, with results coming as soon as within the next two or three weeks with new harvests reaching market hubs.
“Only a few vegetable varieties such as carrots, leeks, green beans, capsicum and local red onions remain at high prices. Other vegetable prices have already started to decline as produce from Jaffna and Kalpitiya have reached the markets,” he said. Prices of brinjals, radish and winged beans were dropping.
Mr. Priyadarsana said the price of local red onions would remain high at about Rs. 1,200 as there was a shortage of onion seedlings. Imported onions were affordable as 29,000 tons of brown onions had been imported from Egypt, Turkey and Bangladesh last month.
Consumers are finding it difficult to cope with the prolonged increase in prices.
Indika Premaratne, 55, who makes a living selling sweep tickets in Kalpitiya, said he was constantly having to look for substitutes, buy alternative vegetables as the varieties he usually bought had become too expensive.
“We do not need excuses from the government: we need the prices of vegetables reduced to a level that is convenient for everyone,” he said sternly. “If there is a shortage of manpower they can make use of prisoners.”
K.A. Rupasinghe, a resident of Hanwella, said there was only a slight difference in prices between the Colombo markets and regional markets such as those in his town.
“Most of the vegetables I bought cost more than Rs. 50-70 for 250 grams,” he said. Sometimes he could not afford to buy all the vegetables he needed. Another shopper, 55-year-old Swarnawathi Liyanage, was in the same straits.
Onion prices have been extremely high Pic by Sumanasiri Gunathilaka
A resident of Kotahena, Kalpan Ganeshan, who shops at the Pettah market, said prices had begun rising in November.
“I work in the private sector and our salaries don’t increase like the vegetable prices. I’m finding it difficult to buy enough vegetables for a family of four,” he said.
In Matale, it is damp and misty with constant falls of rain, and farmers say the weather is making it impossible to spray chemical fertiliser on fields of new crops. The meteorology department said more rains were expected in the Central Province in coming days.
Despite the rain, vegetable prices at the Dambulla Economic Centre have begun decreasing as Jaffna produce start to come in. Although prices of carrots, beetroot, leeks and cabbage remain high, radishes, ladies’ fingers, winged beans and kekiri can now be had for Rs. 80-100 per 500g.
Traders associations said there would not be a significant decrease in prices until harvests of other areas reached markets. To date there had been a Rs.10-20 drop in overall prices.
The President of the Dambulla Merchants Association, Channa Eraula expects prices to decrease in the next three weeks. “The rainy weather led farmers to cultivate paddy – this was the main reason for the shortage of vegetables,” he said.
Mr. Eraulla said merchants are planning to meet President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to discuss the problems of onion farmers, stop onion importation and set up a long-term plan to keep vegetable prices constant throughout the year.
Additional reporting: Mahesh Keerthiratne in Matale
| Parents find it hard to put food on table | |
| By Sumanasiri Gunatilleke in Monaragala Stories of hardship are everywhere in the Moneragala region as staple foods have receded from the reach of many people.  Kadirawel Arulendran  D M Pushpalatha Kadirawel Arulendran, 42, a rubber tapper at the Janawasama Estate, said the rains are not only making basic vegetables too expensive to buy for his family but are also robbing him some days of his Rs. 650 daily wage, because he is unable to extract rubber during rainy days. He has to provide for his three daughters – one of whom is disabled – and son from the little money he earns. “At the very least I need to prepare more than a kilo of rice for a meal,” he said. “I don’t remember a day when I last ate vegetables. The money I earn is too little because I need to provide an education for two children. We would be grateful for any government support.” The price of rice has also risen, said D.M. Pushpalatha, an employee of a local hotel: a kilo of rice that cost her Rs. 70-80 three months ago is now Rs. 110. Mrs. Pushpalatha’s entire family lives on her hotel wage. “The government says there are rice varieties available at cheaper prices at Sathosa outlets but the problem is that the closest Sathosa outlets are at Badalkumbura town or Monaragala, which is far away,” Mrs. Pushpalatha said. She would have to spend twice as much as a kilo of rice cost to travel to those places to buy rice at cheaper rates. |
| Harvests halved in Welimada | |
| By K R Rajamanthri in Welimada  D M Siriwardena Farmers in Welimada say their harvests have been halved because heavy rains have ruined their crops. One farmer in Bokumbura, D.M. Siriwardena, said most of his crops had been destroyed. “I cultivated potatoes and green beans but there was very little to harvest because there were diseases and fungal infections due to the rains,” he said. “Despite using more pesticides the situation did not improve.” The chairman of the Welimada Uwa Paranagama Farmers Association, W.M. Gunawardena, said the high prices of vegetable seeds were also sending up vegetable prices: 25g of cabbage seeds was Rs. 1,500, 100g of carrot seeds was Rs. 3,500 while a 50kg bag of seedling potatoes was as high as Rs. 17,000. |
