Heavy on the pocket: People opt for potato-free recipes due to inflation

Residents struggle to cook everyday food because of high prices in markets.

SUKKUR: Forget poultry, residents of Sukkur might have to do without onions, tomatoes and potatoes as well in their cooking due to skyrocketing prices of these daily commodities.

Husna, an elderly woman, had come to the vegetable market to buy potatoes but after hearing the rate, she went home with a single miserly looking one. “This is all I got for Rs40 per kilogramme,” she said, while holding a small potato. “The rate for the average sized potatoes starts from Rs80 per kg — I don’t understand what the government is trying to do to the poor people of this country.”

She told The Express Tribune that onions are being sold for Rs50 per kg and tomatoes for Rs140 per kg. “Everyday commodities are gradually going beyond the purchasing power of the poor and even the lower middle class,” complained Abdul Karim, who works at a garment shop. “Prices of petroleum products, gas, electricity, wheat, flour, rice, meat, and vegetables are rising constantly while our income remains the same. Why do these politicians make tall claims when they are not able to actually follow through?”

An elderly man, Abdul Manan, expressed his frustration that even though Pakistan is an agricultural country, its people cannot afford basic food items, such as potatoes. “Since it came into power, the current government has done nothing but raise the rates of basic commodities among other things.”

Tough task to sell

A vegetable vendor, Mohammad Shakir, told The Express Tribune that a bag of potatoes weighing 100 kgs, which was earlier available between Rs2,500 to Rs3,500, now ranges from Rs7,000 to Rs8,500. Similarly, a bag of onions weighing 100 kgs is being sold from Rs4,000 to Rs5,500 while only 15 days earlier, it ranged between Rs2,000 to Rs2,800. According to him, the government is exporting potatoes and onions to neighbouring countries but not thinking of the citizens of Pakistan.

Speaking on the rising price of tomato, Haji Hanif Kamboh said that it was being imported from India which is why it was highly priced. “We are selling tomatoes for Rs120 per kg but are hopeful that the price will decrease in the next couple of days.” He added that although hike in prices has been a problem for a long time, no action was being taken against the industrialists, hoarders and black marketers. “Whenever the government’s agencies spring into action, they nab the small retailers while sparing the big guns,” he alleged.

According to wholesaler Mohammad Akram, wholesale vegetable markets operate on little profit. “It is all based on demand and supply - when the supply is low, rates go up and when supply increases, rates go down,” he explained. “As for the prices of potatoes and onions, it appears that the government’s claim of stopping their export was false. According to the principle of trade, government should first fulfill domestic demand and then export certain commodities.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2013.