Alternative cabbage going the onion way

Hyderabad: So far it is onion which had become pricy, but if the trend continues, cabbage too is likely to join the league of vegetables which will be out of the common man's menu.

With the prices of the red bulb touching Rs 160 per kg there has been a shift from using of onions to cabbage as alternative. Hotels are using cabbage in preparation of samosas and curry for puri. Big restaurants replaced onion with cabbage in their salads for main menu.

Considering the nutritional values, dieticians also recommend cabbage be added to their regular meals. Hence it becomes the best alternative to onions pakodas, samosas, salads and curries.

This has led to spurt in demand for cabbage and the prices have started soaring to a new high even in Rythu Bazars and supermarkets in Hyderabad.

Agriculture and Marketing department officials said that the demand for cabbage had increased manifold in the last one week.

The cabbage production has been high this season but the spurt in onion prices had its cascading effect on the prices of cabbage and the prices have shot up from Rs 20 per kg to Rs 35 per kg.

A farmer-cum-vendor at Kothapet Rythu bazaar Nagamma from Rangareddy district said that she is getting profits from the sale of cabbage since a week.

Earlier, she used to throw the leftover stock in the dustbin before winding up her business in the evenings.

The demand for cabbage from the hotels was growing. Individuals who come to the markets are also buying cabbage when the onion stocks at government sales counters are depleted.

Telangana Government is providing onions at the subsidised price of Rs 40 per kg. Due to delay in the onion exports from other countries mainly Egypt, the government has not been able to supply 1 kg of onion for a week to the consumers in the state.

The officials claim that this was helping the farmers in getting remunerative prices. They say this trend would continue till the new crop enters the market.

But the officials do not seem to be taking into cognizance about the possible scenario where cabbage too would be in short supply and the prices may shoot up just as it happened in the case of onions. As of now no contingency plan appears to be in place.