Officials yesterday warned of a sharp increase in the price of vegetables following devastating floods in food-growing areas.
Dambulla Economic Centre official Christy Perera said vegetable supply into the market had dropped by some 70 percent while the price of every vegetable had risen by nearly 80 percent over the weekend.
Before the floods, some 4,000 tons of vegetables entered the market each day but at present it has dropped to 1,000 tons, he said.
“There is a huge dearth of low grown vegetables while the produce from the up country is available at high prices. This scenario is expected to remain for at least the next four weeks,” he said.
According to Mr. Perera the present wholesale price for a kilo of green chillies was Rs. 160, big onions were priced at Rs 120 per kilo, beans at Rs. 120 per kilo, beetroot at Rs 120 per kilo, brinjals at Rs. 90 per kilo, potatoes at Rs. 90 per kilo and string beans (mekaral) at Rs. 70 per kilo.
The lowest priced vegetable was pumpkin that was selling at between Rs. 10 and 20 per kilo.
Meanwhile the authorities said that there was no need to panic at the moment regarding the availability of rice after some 400,000 acres of paddy lands were destroyed in the deluge.
Agriculture Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene told the Sunday Times that there were ample stocks with the State and also among private traders. “However we cannot give a positive picture at the moment since we are still assessing the ground situation”, he said.
He added that moves were currently underway to provide seed, fertilizer and other related agriculture requirements to the affected farmers. “However to do anything the weather situation must clear up”, he said.
Trade Secretary Sunil. S. Sirisena said that the import of rice at this stage is firmly ruled out, but added that the Ministry was monitoring the situation and decisions would be taken according to future requirements. |
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