Floods, landslides in Himachal Pradesh impact vegetable supply chain in Amritsar

Amid continuous spells of rain, swollen rivers and landslides in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, supplies of fresh vegetables from the hill state to the holy city has come down by 80 per cent (due to incessant rain) as compared to the corresponding period last year.

Rakesh Kumar Ladda, a wholesale vegetable dealer, who has been dealing in vegetable supplies with Himachal Pradesh for the past two decades, said barring tomato, prices of several varieties of fresh vegetables surged by about 40 to 60 per cent in the past fortnight in the local wholesale market.

He said despite the hike, vegetables are affordable for most people as rates of main vegetables like tomato, onion and potato are reasonable.

A kilogram of tomatoes is available at Rs 40, onion at Rs 30 and potato Rs 20. Notably, the price of tomatoes was hovering around Rs 100 about 10 days ago.

Disruption in supplies from Himachal areas led to a jump in prices of tomatoes in the local market. However, it prompted the vegetable dealers to look for crops in other markets of the country. The bulk of tomato supply from Maharashtra brought down the prices, bringing relief to common people.

From July to September, the city receives the bulk of supplies of tomato, cauliflower, cabbage, capsicum (in all three colours — green, yellow and red), beans and other fresh vegetables from Himachal.

Paramjit Singh, another wholesale vegetable dealer, said the prices of several vegetables have surged due to the continuous rain, floods and landslides in Himachal Pradesh, disrupting the known supply routes for the local market.

Local entrepreneurs swiftly approached markets in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi for the smooth supply of vegetables.

At present, there is no supply disruption on account of floods in parts of Punjab. The supply of cauliflower from Dera Baba Nanak, which starts in September, is likely to be affected due to the floods in the border areas of Gurdaspur. The Ravi, which is in spate, passes through Dera Baba Nanak before crossing over to Pakistan.

Rajasthan’s Pushkar has replaced Himachal Pradesh as the supply hub of cauliflower and cabbage.