Vegetable rates: Prices up by 100%, supply down by 50%

A vegetable vendor says that the rains have caused huge losses to agriculture.

SUKKUR:

The prices of vegetables have gone up by a 100%, and their supply by 50%, following the devastating rains in upper and lower Sindh.  The price of onion increased by Rs20 per kilogramme, potatoes- Rs15, tomatoes- Rs20, and okra- Rs40.

A vegetable vendor, Ashraf Kamboh, said that the rains have caused huge losses to agriculture. According to him, vegetables are sown throughout the province but their supply has been disturbed. A young woman, who was haggling with the seller over the price of spinach, exclaimed in anger, “The rulers haven’t left Pakistan worth living!”  She said that she had bought spinach for Rs10 per kg last week, but now it was being sold at Rs30.

The shopkeeper tried to reason with her, and tried to explain that the rains had turned the province upside down.

But the young woman was so angry that she left without buying anything, while muttering expletives for the rulers.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th,  2011.