Guwahati (Assam): The vegetable market in Assam's capital city Guwahati has witnessed a significant surge in prices for all green vegetables after the flood hit several districts of the state and damaged crops.
From tomato to green chilli, the price of every green vegetable is skyrocketing in the markets of Guwahati. Tomatoes are being sold at Rs 100 to Rs 120 per kg in Guwahati and green chillies at Rs 450-500 per kg. The prices of other green vegetables are also high due to floods and rainfall. Common people are facing lots of problems due to the hike in vegetable prices.
The flood situation in Assam has been gradually improving, but the water levels of a few rivers of the state are again rising following rainfall. Heavy rains have caused severe flooding, and brought normal life to a standstill in various parts of Assam, besides claiming the lives of seven people, as confirmed by the daily flood report released by the Flood Reporting and Information Management System (FRIMS), Assam.
According to the report, 12 districts have been hit by floods, which includes Bajali, Barpeta, Biswanath, Darrang, Dhemaji, Goalpara, Jorhat, Kamrup, Lakhimpur, Nalbari, Sonitpur, and Tamulpur.
Meanwhile, The Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Rohit Kumar Singh on Saturday announced a Tomato Grand Challenge (TGC) hackathon to invite innovative ideas at various levels of the tomato value chain to ensure availability of tomato to the consumers at affordable prices and help tomato farmers get value for the produce, an official statement said.
Tomato Grand Challenge has been formulated by the Department of Consumer Affairs in collaboration with M/o Education (Innovation Cell). According to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, TGC invites ideas on comprehensive and focused area interventions in tomato value chain - from cropping and market insights for the farmers, appropriate cultivars (OP varieties or hybrids) with higher shelf-life of the fruits for fresh marker, cultivars specifically suitable for processing, value-addition through interventions that can increase shelf-life, improve transportation of fresh and processing products, innovative packaging and storage.
