Thursday, August 27, 2009

Fruit crunch hits city



Fruit crunch hits city

If you love to start your day with a liberal helping of fruits and freshly squeezed juices, then there’s bad news for you. With the monsoons failing fruit farmers miserably, the city is facing a severe shortage of not just seasonal fruits, but also other local varities that were once available all year round. And the ones that are being sold currently are poor in quality and astronomically priced.
It’s a struggle to find seasonal fruits like custard apples and chikoo, which usually sell like hotcakes during this time of the year, says Mehmood, a fruit vendor who couldn’t manage to stock on both these popular fruits this year. “Since it’s Ganesh puja time, people usually buy custard apples and chikoos. Sadly, this year everybody had to make do with small, unripe fruits since the insufficient rains didn’t aid the crops,” adds Mehmood.
With fruits in short supply, retailers across the city complain that the prices have gone up by almost 100 per cent. “Apples in the wholesale market usually cost Rs 1,000 a carton, but these days they are being sold to us at Rs 2,000. The prices of fruits at our outlets are also obviously affected as a result,” says a representative of Food Bazar.
with prices of local fruits shooting up, consumers are forced to opt for the imported variety. says Manish Bharitya, director, Ratnadeep Supermarket, “The lack of rains have affected the quality of local fruits, leading to a shortage in supply and a steep rise in price. It is little wonder then that we see most of our customers choosing the imported variety over the local ones, for the simple reason that they are at least of a better quality. Customers don’t mind shelling out a few extra bucks for a better product,” he says.
Due to this price hike, desi apples that earlier cost Rs 60 a kilo, are now priced anything between Rs 80 to Rs 150. And if you opt for the imported variety, you have to be prepared to shell out Rs 190 for Washington apples or Rs 245 if you choose the Royal apples. pomegranates now cost anything between Rs 90 to Rs 110. And if you thought it was just the imported variety that cost a bomb, then try buying papayas. The fruit which earlier cost Rs 12 now costs Rs 25.


http://www.deccanchronicle.com/

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