Bengaluru: Poor rains and sowing, festive demand drive up prices of vegetables

A view of K.R. Market in Bengaluru. | Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR With the festival season set to start with Varamahalakshmi on Friday (August 21) followed by Ganesh Chathurti, accompanied by deficit rain and a decrease in sowing percentage, vegetable prices in different markets of the city have increased.Gangadhariah, a vegetable trader at Kalasipalya vegetable market in Bengaluru, said, “Traders buy vegetables from here in large quantities and sell them in bigger markets like Shivajinagar, Yeshwantpur, Gandhi Bazaar, K.R. Market, Madiwala and others. Last week, the price of onion per kg in the wholesale market ranged somewhere between ₹17 and ₹28 depending on the quality and size. Now, it has increased to ₹32-35 depending on the quality. In retail, it will be ₹50 to 55 per kg, and firs