KATHMANDU, JULY 9

Sajan Jaiswal, a student who used to spend Rs 3,000 per month on green vegetables before the coronavirus pandemic struck, now has to expend Rs 5,000.

"Due to many factors, the price of commodities including vegetables has been skyrocketing compared to before the COVID period," said Jaiswal who was shopping at Sangrila Agro Market, a wholesale market at Ekantakuna.

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict has exacerbating the economic woes of Nepal, when the country was already facing inflationary pressure due to the COV- ID pandemic. Traders in the Kathmandu valley have raised the price of vegetables citing surge in fuel and fertiliser price hike due to Ukraine-Russia war, low production and disruption in supply.

The soaring price of commodities, including vegetables, is affecting the consumer sentiment while the government is struggling to tame the inflation.

According to Binaya Shrestha, information officer at Kalimati Fruits and Vegetables Market Development Committee, many factors such as supply chain disruption, weather and fuel price affect the price of vegetable.

Shrestha said that soaring price of fuel has resulted in the price of vegetables skyrocketing compared to pre-COVID due to the increased freight cost. "The fuel price definitely impacts the price of vegetables, however its weightage is comparatively less than other factors," he told THT.

Some vegetable prices have gone up as it is off-season now and the prices of green vegetables always fluctuate during the monsoon, he added.

"Generally, vegetable farmers are always quite anxious around June-July and every year the vegetable prices increase during these months as incessant rains damage the crops and landslides affect the supply," Shrestha explained.

Another factor that has contributed to the surge is that the vegetables like onions and potatoes that are imported from India have also become dearer, Shrestha shared.

As per him, around 500 tonnes of green vegetables are being supplied in the market at the moment, of which 35 per cent is imported from India.

However, Prem Lal Maharjan, president of National Consumer Forum, claimed the reasons given by traders for hiking the prices of vegetables were unjustified.

"The price of vegetables supplied from the Tarai belt is inflated by as much as eight times when they are brought to Kathmandu due to middlemen," he claimed, adding the situation is neither being monitored by the local governments, nor the federal government.

Rajaram Buddathoki, a wholesaler at Sangrila Agro Market, also blamed the middlemen for the surge in price of vegetables in the valley.

"Farmers have been selling their produce at lowest rate, but it becomes dearer when it is brought to Kathmandu," said Buddathoki adding, "Citing the fuel price hike, the middlemen adjust the price. If the vegetables could be transported to us directly, it would be cheaper because we only set margin of up to Rs 10 per kg in each produce."

According to the vegetable price list of the committee, the price of red potato has surged to Rs 54.40 per kg, compared to Rs 32 a kilo three years ago. Similarly local cucumber has surged by Rs 110 per kilo compared to Rs 55 a kg prior to COVID. Similarly, the price of Indian big tomato has gone up to Rs 95 per kg from Rs 67.50 a kilo over the review period.