Sales at Koyambedu wholesale vegetable market have decreased by 50 per cent since the latest lockdown was announced by the Tamil Nadu state government. This is despite the prices remaining the same for over a month. Sources said more than 250 tons of vegetables are being thrown away every day due to the sales dip at the market.
P. Sukumaran, treasurer of the Koyambedu Vegetable Merchants’ Association, said the market receives a very limited supply of vegetables in May and the prices usually double during this time. “We get only 450 trucks of vegetables now. The majority of the buyers at the market used to be retail traders but their number has reduced in the past week due to the lockdown. The few retail vendors who come to the market do not buy their usual amount fearing that they might not be able to sell them given the time restrictions,” he told dtnext.in.
“At least 250-300 tons of vegetables go to waste every day. Earlier, the bio-gas complex was utilising it to generate electricity but now even that has been stopped. So, we dump the waste in the garbage.”
Photo source: Dreamstime.com
