The Red Gold and the Myth of Taste

The fluctuation in vegetable prices has both economic and psychological aspects.

- K.V. Raghupathi

The economic aspect of it is that vegetable prices change according to the laws of supply and demand, which are influenced by two groups of people: farmers who create the produce and intermediaries who purchase the products from farmers. The farmers grow the vegetables in response to market demand. The real beneficiaries and the spoilers are the intermediaries, who have the power to inflate the price, hoard the product, and release it gradually. The farmers and the consumers (people) are the genuine losers in this situation, while the intermediaries are the real winners.

This is exactly what happened when tomato prices in the market suddenly increased during the past several days, primarily impacting the middle class and the poor. The wealthy are barely impacted by this variation. So, for the middle class and the underprivileged, tomatoes became priceless red gold like red hot chillies.

Onions experienced the same situation a few months ago. The issue, however, is with the consumers who are determined to purchase the commodity that the government or certain humanitarian organisations are subsidising despite the skyrocketing price, standing in a long queue, enduring the sun, and occasionally rain.