The State government has decided to sell tomatoes through fair price shops in Chennai at ₹60 a kg from July 4.
After holding a review meeting on Monday, Minister of Co-operatives K.R. Periyakaruppan announced that tomatoes would be sold at 82 fair price shops in Chennai in the first phase. Of this, 32 fair price shops were in north Chennai.
The initiative would be extended to other parts of the State depending on the need, the Minister said.
Pannai Pasumai (Farm Fresh) outlets in various parts of the State, including Chennai, Coimbatore, Salem, Erode and Vellore have already commenced sales of tomatoes at ₹60 a kg.
Meanwhile, the wholesale price of tomatoes dropped marginally to ₹90 a kg in Chennai on Monday after staying high for the past several days. However, the retail price continued to be ₹120 a kg in many areas.
The Koyambedu wholesale market complex received an additional five vehicles on Monday. Wholesale merchants said additional loads were sourced from Srinivasapura and Kolar in Karnataka.
In short supply
The market got 40 to 45 truckloads on Monday against the normal load of 90 to 100 lorry loads of tomatoes.
Merchants said that only 50% of farmers cultivated tomato crops as earlier harvest did not fetch a good price. Excessive heat and recent rain were cited as the reasons. Chennai receives a bulk of its supply from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Diversion of supply to offset the shortfall in other regions led to such a steep rise in price.
It is not just tomatoes. Several other vegetables, including beans and green chillies, have become expensive due to the recent heatwave followed by heavy rain spell in some States.
The price of garlic shot up to ₹150 a kg at the Koyambedu Wholesale Market in Chennai on Monday | Photo Credit: B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM
Ginger and garlic are among the other costly produce whose prices rose to ₹200 a kg and ₹150 a kg.
P. Sukumar, treasurer, Koyambedu Vegetables, Fruits and Flowers Merchants Association, said: “Vegetable cultivation has vanished in the neighbouring places of Chennai. We used to get 10-15 truckloads of local vegetables daily from Gudiyatham till the year 2000. Koyambedu does not get vegetables anymore from Gudiyatham. Such issues have also led to gaps in demand and supply.”
In Koyambedu, coriander was sold at ₹200 and ₹350 a kg depending on quality. One big bunch was available for ₹40 now because of short supply. It may take another week for the prices of other vegetables to drop as demand for major functions would decrease, traders added.
