Imphal, October 30 2009: The winter season has just set in and it is the season of variety of vegetables in Manipur.

However, this year, there is not much to cheer about as the sky-rocketing prices of vegetables in the state has given a knee-jerk to the common people.

The basic reason for the tremendous rise in the prices of the vegetables and essential commodities in Manipur this year has been due to fluctuation in the climatic condition.

It is worth noting that there was scanty rainfall this year.

Owing to this, the productivity is very low.

Moreover, the increase in the rate of the fertilizers and the manual labour are some of the reasons accountable for the price rise in the state.

According to a survey conducted by NNN in the vegetable markets of Imphal, the local delicacy known as 'yongchak' (tree beans) plants are said to be the most expensive amongst all the vegetables.

The price of yonchak per piece is Rs 20 this year while the same was sold for just Rs 4 last year during this time of the year.

Sadly, the local food of the state 'yongchak' is said to be withering gradually.

Over 60 percent of the withering of the yongchak plants is reportedly due to the attack by diseases while the rest was due to lack of care and the non availability of minerals required by the tree beans.

Dr Kh Ibohal, Assistant Professor of the Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture, CAU had once said that pests and insects such as Asian Long Horn Beetle (Kangchek Manbi Til), bark eating caterpillar (Maku Chabi Til) and almond moth which bores and eats up Yongchak flower (Kakshi) were responsible for the withering and the eventual death of the plants.

Further, the high presence of nitrogen in the plants reportedly made it easy for the insects to bore through the barks and destroy the plants.

Meanwhile, a comparative study of the rates of various vegetables reveals that the price of tomato which was Rs.10-15 per Kilogram (kg) last year, has increased by Rs.5 this year.

Similarly, pea which was Rs.30-40 kg has increased to Rs 55-60 per Kg this year, cabbage was Rs.20 per kg last year and it has increased to Rs 27-30 per kg, cauliflower has recorded a difference of about Rs.7 compared to last year while bringjal recorded a difference of Rs.5.The price of local chilly known as U-morok (king chilly) has gone up to Rs.120 per kg as compared to Rs.80 last year.

Not only the prices of the vegetables have increased but also the grocery items such as potato, garlic, onion, and gram have increased tremendously.

The rate of potato has reportedly been increased from Rs 15 last year to Rs 25 per kg this year.

The price of onion was Rs.18 per kg last year while it is being sold at Rs 30 per kg this year.

The price of gram has recorded a difference of about Rs.25 from the prices recorded last year.

According to grocery shopkeepers, such price rise in the grocery items has been due to the flood in several parts of the country.

Notably, the people of the state mainly depend upon agriculture and owing to scanty rainfall this year, the productivity is less in quantity. Further, people are bearing the brunt of inflation and several other inconveniences.

According to a farmer of a village in Bishnupur district, the price rise of the crops and vegetables are mainly due to the increase in the prices of fertilizer, manual labour and transport fares.

Moreover, the dry spell has led the irrigation land completely dried up and therefore the generators are being hired for generating electricity and the water is pumped to such lands manually.

Such process involves double expenditure, added the farmer.

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