High garlic prices causing concern

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The heavy dependence of the state’s agriculture sector on cash crops is costing the state dear, if the present trend of prices of agricultural produce such as garlic are an indication.

One of the reasons for the prices of garlic staying high for the past three months is the state’s over-dependence on other states for the produce.

The price of garlic had been staying in the range of Rs 250 to Rs 270 per kg for the past few months.

In normal case,  garlic is priced at around Rs 60 per kg.

There are three varieties of garlic in the open market. The first one is the raw variety priced at Rs 150 per kg on Monday.

The second one, the normal dried variety, is priced at Rs 240 per kg and the third one, the big dried variety, is priced at Rs 250 per kg.

The problem is that the raw variety is not favoured by consumers as it is considered to be of low quality.

Kerala State Horticultural Products Development Corporation (Horticorp) Managing Director K.Premanath told Express that the non-availability of garlic from other states might be the reason for its price remaining high in the state. Moreover, garlic is an  easily perishable item.

In the case of onions, the prices which was on a high had shown a downward trend.

The price of big onion which was Rs 70 to Rs 80 per kg earlier had come down to Rs 20 to Rs 22 per kg on Monday.

The price of small onions had also come down in the range of Rs 44 to Rs 50 per kg from Rs 76 per kg.

The Union Government had even decided to allow the conditional export of onions, as the price of onion had recently crashed in domestic markets.

  Despite the relief for State’s consumers from the fall in the prices of onion, the high price of garlic is causing a great deal of concern.

Consumers may perhaps have to wait for another fortnight for the price of garlic to start coming down with the arrival of fresh produce from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.

Though the harvest of garlic had started in these states on February 15, the product is yet to arrive in the market.

The big increase in prices of garlic had been mainly attributed to a drop in production of 30 per cent last year in main garlic-producing states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, due to unseasonal rains. Large-scale exports of garlic to Pakistan between April and June had also contributed to the short supply.

India ranks second in area under garlic cultivation with 86,000 hectares and has the third position in production at 3,50,000 tonnes.

Madhya Pradesh is the leading garlic-producing state accounting for more than 35 percent of area and 38 percent of production. Garlic is sown in September to October and is harvested from February to March.

China ranks first in area and production of garlic.

(Source: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/thiruvananthapuram/high-garlic-prices-causing-concern/250341.html)