Kota: Despite the cost of garlics skyrocketing currently, farmers have sold around 90 per cent more of this kharif crop in 2024 compared to 2023 and have earned Rs 535 crores more, thanks to heightened demand and less supply. Currently, 5,000 to 7,000 quintals of garlic are arriving daily in Kota Mandi, turning its average price to Rs 15,000 per quintal.
In December last year, prices of garlic had increased phenomenally to ₹300/ ₹400 per kg. In several parts, it was being sold at the rate of ₹150/250 per kg in the wholesale market whereas between ₹300 and ₹400 per kg in the retail market.
Experts had stated that the rise in price of garlic was specifically due to the delay in harvesting season and was likely to persist for a considerable span of time. Amid this price rise, several households were compelled to cut down on the consumption of the spice from to stick to their budget.
Starting from September-October, garlic prices witnessed a constant hike till January this year, when fresh batches of the vegetable arrived. Although the supply has decreased now, demand is still high thereby helping farmers earn a considerable profit.
Shashi Shekhar Sharma, Joint Director, Agricultural Marketing Department, said that the price of garlics between April to June last year was Rs 5,100 per quintal, whereas in 2024, for the same period, the price is Rs 10,800 per quintal. Last year, garlic-producing farmers earned Rs 575.82 crore compared to Rs 1110.83 crore this year.
Surendra Meghwal, a resident of Chandinda village located near Khedarsoolpur, said that this year, he sold garlics at the rate of Rs 13,500 per quintal compared to the rate of Rs 9,800 per quintal in 2023.
The failure of one garlic crop and subsequent delays in another crop's harvest were the main causes of the increase in garlic prices last year. There are two growing seasons for garlic: kharif and rabi. Farmers in Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Rajasthan grow the Kharif crop. In Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, and West Bengal, garlic crops are planted in their second phase.
One of the nation's largest producers of the crop, Madhya Pradesh, postponed planting garlic in 2023. Therefore, it was only around the end of November that the Kharif crop began to appear in the market. Analysts had predicted that the market's supply of garlic would normalise by January 2024.
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