If you are wondering why avarekai has not made its presence in a big way in the city’s markets despite it being the third week of November, blame it on the lack of adequate rains this year.
Normally, markets should have been flooded with avarekai (field beans or lablab) by this time. This season, however, the supply has dropped to less than 30 per cent of the normal, sources in wholesale vegetable market said.
A senior procurement official in a leading retail chain said that while the normal supply to the city’s markets during November was 12 to 15 tonnes a day, presently it was 3 to 4 tonnes a day. The price of a kilo of avarakai is expectedly high — in the range of Rs. 35 to Rs. 50, while it used to be available at less than Rs. 25 a kg during normal crop season.
Presently, most of the avarekai in the market is coming from Mysuru region while the crop has failed in most of the other avarekai growing areas — Devanahalli–Hospet belt, Kolar, Magadi, and Hassan. The failure of monsoon, especially during September and October, is being blamed for the crop failure, according to farmers.
“If there is no rain this month, the avarekai crop this year will eventually be less than 30 per cent of the usual yield, causing huge losses to farmers and depriving the region of its share of the beans,” said Chennathimmaiah, a leading avarekai grower in Magadi. He said the crop in his farm had dried, and if the rains failed this month, he would be ruined. “Most of the avarekai growers in Magadi are reeling under debts and a crop failure will only add to the crisis,” he lamented.
The situation is no different in other avarekai growing areas. G. Muniswamy Gowda, a grower in Devanahalli, said the crop had almost wilted owing to lack of rain. Though the morning dew — crucial for the bean to acquire a distinctive aroma ( sogadu ) which adds to the taste — is amply present, growers are not able to get any advantage owing to the failure of the rains, he added.
This October, during which the State saw an average 29 mm rainfall, is said to be the driest October in the past 50 years. The average rainfall in the State during October in the last 30 years has been 136 mm. A senior official in HOPCOMS said if the supply of the beans does not improve this month, the price is likely to go up further.
