KR Market: Satiating city’s appetite for fruits, vegetables

Vasudha Zora |NT

Bengaluru: The Krishna Rajendra Market (KR Market for short) is a bustling wholesale hub that caters to Bengaluru's gargantuan appetite for fruits, vegetables and flowers all through the year.

This iconic market comes alive early morning with trucks and vans arriving from the state’s hinterlands and neighbouring Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala to fulfill the food necessities of the city’s 1.3 crore residents.

As the market deals with perishable items, maintaining freshness of the produce is crucial. The fruits, vegetables and flowers arriving at KR Market changes hands from wholesalers to retailers and they are again laden in vans and trucks to reach our neighbourhood pushcart vendors, vegetable shops, super markets and malls.

Azad Ayub, a truck owner who brings beans, Ooty carrots, avocados, oranges from Ooty and Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu, said, “When we are loading our trucks, we segregate the same produce depending on the market propensity.”

Once it reaches KR Market at around 4 am, vegetable and fruit shopkeepers who own large establishments and mall retailers are eagerly waiting for their order to be delivered to them. The process of selecting the best varieties begins here.

According to Murli, a vegetable shopkeeper, “We reach here early and spend around two hours selecting what we should keep in our shops, depending on the demand and buying capacity of the customers. During the winter season, there is a big demand for fruits such as strawberries, blueberries and cranberries which come from farms on the periphery reigns of the city.”

Gauri from K R Market along with buying green leafy vegetables also spends time in selecting fresh flowers that her customers use for morning pujas. She sells leafy vegetables and flowers. Vegetables such as lady’s finger, cauliflower, cabbage come from Andhra Pradesh, while yam, bamboo shoots and lotus stems come from Kerala.

With extensive irrigation facilities available at Mysuru, Mandya and Sriragapatana, thanks to Cauvery river, the city gets its supply of sugarcane and a variety of vegetables from these towns. The demand and prices of fruits and vegetables vary from season to season, and it usually skyrockets during festivals.

During festivals like Onam, vegetables peculiar to Kerala reach the market to cater to the needs of Malayalees residing in the city to prepare their popular dish Avvial. During winter, peas, tomatoes, avarekkai, and carrots are readily available at a cheaper price.

Abhiram Reddy who drives a truck laden with fruits and vegetables from Nellore district from Andhra Pradesh said, “I have learnt Kannada as I interact with the buyers on a weekly basis. Sometimes I also help them to bargain and get the best price from the supplier. They trust me as I know the quality of vegetables due to my 13 years of experience in this business.”

HOPCOMS relief The farmers’ cooperative Horticultural Producers Cooperative Marketing and Processing Society Limited (HOPCOMS) began in 1959 to eliminate the menace of middle men. It operates on fixed rates, bills are produced to track the rates of the business. With the introduction of HOPCOMS, farmers now need not go to the middleman and get paid for their produce.

The society covers Bengaluru Urban, Kolar, Ramanagr, Bengaluru Rural and Chikkaballapur. More than 70 tonnes of fruits and vegetables are brought into the city and find their way to various HOPCOMS outlets spread out in the city.

The three grading processes by the HOPCOM officials ensures the best quality, good price and timely arrival and availability of the produce for consumption. The farmers who sell their fruits and vegetable stocks to HOPCOMS are paid for the produce on the same day in cash.