Bengaluru: The ongoing truckers’ strike has not yet made itself felt on vegetables and grains, but nevertheless prices have been rising steadily over the last few weeks in face of a deepening water crisis and looming drought. Prices are expected to rise in the coming two months if there is no relief.

A kg of beans is presently being sold at Rs. 100 plus in the retail market, while carrots are being sold at around Rs. 80 a kg. Beans are presently being cultivated only in Malur region, where too, the crop has been severely hit.

Brinjals are being sold at an unprecedented Rs. 60 plus levels a kg. The prices of greens and cucumber — much in demand during summer —have also seen a big jump in their prices. A measure of sabbakki greens is presently sold at a whopping Rs. 105.

All the gourds are trading at high rates. Other vegetables like lady’s finger, beetroot and radish are also being sold at higher than usual rates at Rs. 38, Rs. 40 and Rs. 32 respectively. Coconut prices have been trading at the higher end of Rs. 30-Rs. 33 for the past two months and has seen no correction.

A senior procurement official at a leading retail chain in the city said that the chief problem had been fall in supplies. “Some of the vegetables like gourds, cauliflower, beetroot and others are of very poor quality and even if one is ready to pay more, there is no quality product available in the market,” he said.

S.H. Keshav, manager, procurement and marketing, Hopcoms, said the arrival of most of the vegetables have fallen by over 40% and if the pre-monsoon rain failed in the coming months, the vegetable market would only head further northwards.

G. Muniswamy Gowda, a vegetable farmer from Chennarayapatna on the city outskirts said, water scarcity and rising temperature had hit the crops severely. “The water levels in the borewells have fallen in the last one month and there isn’t enough water available for the crops. It is for the first time in the last many years that we are not cultivating our full 8 acres of land, but only a part of it,” he said.

The only vegetables to be trading at affordable prices are onions and potatoes which are below Rs. 20 a kg. The climate is now apt for onions and the market is being flooded with a good supply, said a leading onion merchant at the APMC Yard in Yeshwanthpur. Though tomatoes are being sold at Rs. 25-Rs. 27 a kg, they are of a poor quality, said a wholesaler trader.