From Grassroots to Galaxies

I walk through the vegetable market yard  to reach my fitness center which is 3.2 kms from my home. Daily truck loads of farm fresh veggies packed with fresh foliage are offloaded in the wholesale vegetable market yard, it is then  auctioned or sold in bulk  to retailers who sell their stocks in the various super markets across the city or on their push carts or little kirana shops.

 Knowing very well that the stocks were sold in multiples of 10 or 100 Kgs, I never bothered to find the veggie rates till the day I watched  news on potato growers on NDTV. The news   showed farmers of Punjab driving their trucks over potatoes on the roads. The reason being they were offered just re 1 /kg from the Government.

Subsequently many such news followed in the newspapers that tomato growers of AndhraPradesh played ‘tomatino fest’ , not with joy but seething with anger because they too were offered Re 1 per kg.

That’s when curiosity got the better of me and one day I tried to check the rates of the vegetables at the yard, at the nearby retail vegetable market( where veggies are supposed to be priced less) and in other supermarkets.

The yard rate of potatoes were Rs 7/kg, in the nearby retail  market was 10-12 and the supermarket quoted 20rs/kg( 20 times more than what was offered to the farmers). Similarly green peas were sold at Rs. 10/kg at the yard ,Rs 15-17 at the nearby market and at the supermarkets anywhere between 40-50/KG. carrots again at 7, 20 and 32 respectively, Okra at 10,24, and 40. 

The veggie rates almost multiplied anywhere between 4-10 times from the grassroot level(farmers) by the time it reached the consumers. It is fair enough for supermarkets to an extent, that some amount of money can be attributed to overheads like transportation, coldstorage, supermarket rent etc., but even the poor  hardworking farmer after  year long work of tilling, ploughing, sowing, irrigating and toiling under the hot sun  with sweat and blood, bank loans,  fertilizer expense has his overheads. He too deserves his due.

 No wonder ,  they direct the ire towards towards the vegetables grown.Today’s news reads that farmers of Guntur burn dry red chillies in the yard. They are sadly burning and crushing their own hardwork. 

The past few days news papers also report that this is happening with paddy, wheat etc… Isn’t this  a criminal waste in a country where 42% of the children are supposed to be malnourished.  No, I don’t blame the farmers here  and we too buy veggies at rates which spiral towards galaxies.
Most of the consumers who are  occupied with their personal and professional work through the week find it tiresome to walk through the veggie market and buy veggies, so many of them  try to source them from supermarkets where shopping is a pleasure or in our own apartment complex  on sundays, where a branded company  known for cigarettes,lifestyle products and food products sells veggies at  exorbitant rates. Every body complains about this but who has a choice?


After all these, I am not spelling who should take control but definitely not a winning situation either for the farmers or for the consumers  like us, but of course, the middlemen are the sure shot winners who guzzle and laugh their way to the banks without any hardwork. 

If you have missed the news check out the potatino fest of the punjab farmers, similarly andhra farmers too played tomatino.