As heavy rains lashed Mumbai for days on end, people suffered the impact of climate change once again because of what we call extreme weather events. And as people struggled to commute and get home, the last thing on their minds was to stop and buy their daily supplies of vegetables from the regular vendor.
Rarely does one notice, but when monsoons hit Mumbai, the livelihoods of all the stakeholders of the entire supply chain of perishables right from the transporters to the wholesale and retail vendors are affected by rains, exacerbated by climate change.
Impact of climate change on vegetables
Vegetables supply in Mumbai has been affected by climatic factors like heavy monsoons to drought-like conditions in areas where vegetables are grown. Maharashtra received 86.4 % of the normal rainfall during the monsoons of 2023. While 19 talukas received excess rainfall, 146 talukas received deficient rainfall, according to the Economic Survey of Maharashtra, 2023-24.
Due to untimely/heavy rains between January and October, 2023 agriculture/fruit crops in the state were severely affected following which the state sanctioned compensation of Rs 1,700.50 crore to 22.74 lakh farmers from about 16.55 lakh ha of affected areas. Also, 22.66 lakh ha agriculture crops /fruit crops were affected due to drought for which compensation of Rs 2,443.23 crore was sanctioned in Maharashtra.
Similarly, the state also sanctioned compensation of Rs 2,277.90 crore to 23.96 lakh farmers for about 12.89 lakh ha affected area for loss due to untimely rains and hailstorms in November, 2023 to January, 2024.
This meant reduction in output and supply to markets of Mumbai and other cities. It resulted in an increase in prices for consumers in Mumbai but it did not mean increased income for the vendors.
Rains and livelihoods of vegetable vendors
Doing business during the unpredictable monsoons is hard already. It has become worse with climate change related weather events for most vegetable sellers.
Sangita Jaiswal, who sells in the Borivali vegetable market says, “I take a call on how much vegetables to stock for selling on a daily basis. If the downpour is really bad, I decide not to do business on that day. There is no point in coming all the way from my residence in Nallasopara to Borivali market to do business at such times. This is because even if the vegetable stock may have arrived from the wholesale market at Vashi, the consumers may not turn up. Because of the rain our efforts are wasted and it is not worth it at all,” says Sangita.
If she ends up with stock on a rainy day, she has to sell it at ‘cut-rate’ prices. She has only two choices — to sell at low prices to the few customers who come or to throw the stock. “I have rarely had to throw though,” she explains thanks to her precise judgment about how much stock to procure daily.
Difficulty in handling vegetables
Sandeep Bodhe, who does door-delivery of vegetables after sourcing them from Dadar wholesale market, says, “Since I deliver vegetables only in high rises, I deal only in good quality, costly vegetables. But, on days when it pours badly, I am forced to give it away at half the price or even at a loss to another vendor, who sells in the local slums. Having a high-end customer base means that I cannot sell stale vegetables the next day.”
Sandeep too has to dispose his leftover stock every day. He says, “Since I have to spend money on transportation of my vegetables from Dadar, I cannot afford to do this on a regular basis. Every monsoon impacts my earnings. I lose almost 16% of my earnings due to weather conditions. My average monthly earnings of Rs 18,000 dwindles by almost Rs 3000 because of weather-related losses. This has become a new norm now,” he says.
The monsoons also make it very inconvenient to handle vegetables. “During the rains handling of vegetables can be a challenge, because they get heavy and wet. Our business is such that we cannot stop — be it rains or heat or even COVID. We can only reduce the damage,” says Sandeep.
Handling the perishables like vegetables during the hot summers too has its own challenges as reported here.
Read more: Warnings overlooked: Mumbai floods intensify despite reports and recommendations
How do bad roads worsen climate challenges
While heavy rains have direct impact on storage of vegetables, they also damage roads which severely affects supply. This in turn, escalates vegetable prices.
Bal Malkit Singh, chairman of the core committee and former president of the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), that represents 90 lakh truckers from across the country, says, “The three routes that supply to Mumbai, be it from the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway, the Mumbai- Nashik highway or the Mumbai-Goa highway, are all affected due to the bad quality of roads.”
He observes, “The roads are so bad that drivers refuse to ply on these highways because the bad conditions lead to long traffic jams, health issues due to sudden jerks brought about by the uneven potholed roads,” he says adding that many drivers prefer to not work and so a full fleet of truck services is not available. “If normally 1000 truck services provide daily supply of perishables, only about 750 are functional during this period. This shortfall is because of the bad state of the roads.”
Due to heavy rains and floods, travel time has doubled between the fields to the city thereby increasing fuel, maintenance and transportation charges. This further increases the prices of vegetables. The bad road conditions fuelled by monsoons are an annual phenomena, it has worsened this year, he added.
The AIMTC has demanded a road audit to fix culpability and action against errant officials.
Malkit Singh says dealing with climate change or the vagaries of the monsoons may be beyond our control, but the government could help just by providing better quality roads.
Other challenges for vegetable vendors
In Mumbai, the woes of the vendors are aggravated by the sudden eviction drives conducted against hawkers. Though many hawkers were wooed to take loans under the PM’s swanidhi scheme, it did not spare them from the brunt of action from Mumbai’s civic eviction teams.
Mumbai has about 32,425 authorised hawkers, who will be provided with licenses and officially allowed to hawk on the streets. Earlier, the BMC had allowed 15631 licences from the 99435 applications received.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had approved Swanidhi loans to over 92,000 hawkers in the city in January 2023, though the hawkers union believes that the real number of hawkers in the city could be as high as over three lakh vendors.
Government policy and market fluctuations
Sanjay Pansare, former director of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee says market fluctuations in agricultural yields have become a norm.
Factors such as reduction in yield and increase in production costs due to factors like increased pesticide dependency and costs also affect the produce and prices. Government decisions such as sudden ban or withdrawal of exports, only adds to the market fluctuations.
Policy fluctuations also leads to reduced access to international markets. In such a scenario, the government could help by planning a proper policy particularly for perishables.
Citing examples of volatility of prices of essentials like tomatoes and onions, Sanjay says, “The State must understand that their agricultural market policies affect not just the import-export sector but the entire supply chain, which is already under stress due to various factors including the vagaries of climate. They must understand that at the heart of this issue, it is the consumer who is hurt the most.”
| Call to action |
| The government urgently needs to address various factors affecting produce, supply and pricing. Experts recommend :- * Policies to protect farmers from market fluctuations * Extra support system to store and transport perishable goods in monsoons * Policy to address challenges faced by vendors in monsoons in cities * Plan for import/export policy by factoring in the cropping patterns * Insurance for damages due to heavy rains for informal vendors as well as farmers |