Karnataka: Tomato prices surge as excess rains hit supply; onion prices crash
Bengaluru: The price of tomatoes has skyrocketed and is expected to touch Rs 100 per kg in the retail market in the coming days.
Farmers are attributing the reduced tomato yield to the heavy rains. Lakshman Gowda, a tomato farmer from Kolar, explained that the rainfall this year has led to a poor harvest. “This along with virus attacks has reduced the yield drastically while the demand has remained high. Hence the prices have shot up,” Deccan Herald quoted Lakshman Gowda, a tomato farmer from Kolar, as saying.
Dealers at the Kolar Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) have reported a 40% drop in the arrival of tomatoes at the market.
Srinath, a dealer at Kolar APMC, explained that they previously received around 3,500 tonnes of tomatoes daily, but that number has now fallen to approximately 2,000 tonnes. “While crop loss in Karnataka has brought down the yield, the bad rains in Maharashtra has meant that a lot of produce from Karnataka is also being sent to meet the demand in North India. Hence the crisis,” DH quoted him as saying.
Meanwhile, onion prices have seen a sharp reversal. In contrast to the soaring prices of tomatoes, onions are now available for as low as Rs 5 per kilogram in the wholesale market. Dealers at the Yeshwantpur APMC market have pointed to the moist weather conditions, which have damaged onion crops, leading to a surplus of low-quality produce.
“Of the onions coming to the market, only about 10% is good and the rest is of poor quality. The rains damaged the crops bringing the yield down and now the moist weather conditions have meant that many are rotting even during transportation. Since good quality onion is not available, the price has remained low,” the newspaper quoted Ravi Shankar from the Yeshwantpur APMC yard as saying.
The situation is reportedly expected to persist for at least the next two months, after which some relief is anticipated.
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Ahead of good Friday, SWR announces special train between Yesvantpur-Kannur via Mangaluru
Bengaluru: Ahead of the upcoming Good Friday festival weekend, the South Western Railway has announced a one-trip special train service between Yesvantpur Junction and Kannur via Mangaluru Junction.
According to an official released from the SWR, Train Number 06551 Yesvantpur–Kannur Express Special will depart Yesvantpur at 11.50 am on April 2 and is scheduled to arrive Kannur at 3.00 am on April 3.
In the return direction, Train Number 06552 Kannur–Yesvantpur Express Special will leave Kannur at 8.45 am on April 3 and reach Yesvantpur at 9.30 pm the same day.
The special train will halt at Kunigal, Channarayapatna, Hassan, Sakleshpura, Subrahmanya Road, Kabaka Puttur, Bantawala, Mangaluru Junction, Kasaragod, Kanhangad and Payyannur.
The train composition will have two AC two-tier coaches, six AC three-tier coaches, seven sleeper class coaches, four general second class coaches.
