Consumers buy vegetables from a market in Berhampur. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy

Bhubaneswar/Berhampur, Oct. 20: Had it not been the auspicious month of Kartik, Hudhud that hit a part of Andhra Pradesh and ravaged it would have led to an increase in the prices of non-vegetarian food in Odisha.

The state heavily depends on Andhra for its daily dose of fish, chicken and egg. In Kartik, most of the people here avoid non-vegetarian food owing to religious beliefs.

A trader, involved in non-vegetarian food business, said over 100 tonnes of fishes was sold on three days in a week — Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. But on the other four days, the business falls by 20 to 30 tonnes. Fish traders’ association president Shiek Mustafa said their business went down by over 50 per cent in the month of Kartik.

“In Kartik, people do not consume much fish, and it affects our business. However, this cyclone having affected Andhra Pradesh this time, our business has not been hampered much,” said Mustafa.

He also said: “The areas from where we get fish have not been affected by the cyclone. So we can say that the cyclone has no impact on our business.”

The chicken and egg traders had the similar views as well. On normal days, over 10 tonnes of chicken is sold, and most of this come from Andhra Pradesh. In Kartik, the sales go down by over 60 per cent. “I normally sell over 50kg on a non-veg day. But now, it hardly goes past 10kg,” said Mustaq Ali, a trader. He, however, overruled any role of the cyclone on the chicken sale.

But, mutton sellers never depend on Andrha, and they only blame on the auspicious month for the poor sale of their products. In another development, incessant rain following Hudhud has damaged huge vegetable crops in Ganjam district, and this, along with the people’s choice for vegetarian food in this month, may cause vegetable prices to rise in the district.

Deputy director of the horticulture department (Ganjam) Bhagaban Das said more than 1,000 hectares of vegetable crop has been damaged in the cyclone.

Sources said vegetables such as cauliflower, ladies finger, pumpkin, gourd and arum were produced in Ganjam district, while brinjal, papaya, drumsticks and others were imported from Andhra.

While some businessmen fear that the situation may give rise to price rise, many believe that the cyclone is not as bad as Phailin that hit the district last year, and they are confident of normal crop this year. Kalia Panda of the Mardarajpur Vending Zone said Hudhud’s impact was not much compared to that of Phailin.

“Though Hudhud may affect vegetable prices to some extent, it would not have much impact,” he said.