WHY "KACHA PAPITA"(TENDER AND GREEN PAPAYA) IS PRICED MORE THAN THE "PAKA PAPITA"(RIPENED PAPAYA)?
WHY "KACHA PAPITA"(TENDER AND GREEN PAPAYA) IS PRICED MORE THAN THE "PAKA PAPITA"(RIPENED PAPAYA)?
I am motivated to write
this article from an incident in the morning today. After a long walk today, I
got into a street at Mumbai to buy some vegetables for household consumption.
This is a street where there are street sellers of vegetables and fruits either
on the ground or on hand carts. You can expect to get good quality fresh
products at good prices. Right now being winter, and temperature this year is
lower compared to previous years at Mumbai, keeping quality is also good.
When I landed at this
street to do my vegetable purchases, I found two persons were quarrelling, one
is a vegetable seller and another is a buyer, on a very peculiar issue, which
at the first instance would be difficult to understand on the face of it,
unless someone gets into the inherent logic of it. The issue on which they were
quarrelling was, while the Ripened Papaya (Paka Papita) was sold @ Rs. 40 per
kg, at the same place, the Tender and Green Papaya ( Kacha Papita ) was sold at
Rs. 80/- per kg.
Look at it, the issue
on the face of it, would look very peculiar; under normal circumstances, people
would expect the Ripened Papaya should be more priced than the Green Papaya, or
otherwise, the Green Papaya should be priced lower than the Ripened Papaya.
However Green Papaya gets priced much higher.
Papaya is a very nice
agricultural/ horticultural product and consumed both as a Vegetable when it is
tender and green as well as a Very Good Fruit when it is ripened. Globally it
is consumed more as a Ripened Fruit than as a vegetable. In India, it is widely
consumed as a vegetable when tender and green. The Ripened Papaya is only
consumed as a Fruit and can not be consumed by cooking like a green papaya and
it is consumed quite extensively across the Nation.
The question comes, why the Tender and Green Papaya is being priced higher than Ripened Papaya, while normally anyone would think it should be priced lower. Look at the following reasons:
1. The Tender and Green Papaya has to be plucked from the Papaya Plant when it is really Tender, Green and Small in size. To give the rough idea of size, the Green Papaya plucked to be consumed as vegetables by cooking it, is generally around 500gm or less than that in weight.
2. The Ripened Papaya is plucked when the fruit is fully matured or starts to ripen, the rough size of it could be anywhere from 1 to 2 kg which could even go to 3-4 kg or bigger in size, depending on the variety of Papaya and condition of the papaya plant.
3. The Green Papaya has a smaller market size as a vegetable as everyone does not like to eat it cooked as a vegetable, while the Ripened Papaya has a larger market as the acceptance of it as a Fruit for consumption is quite extensive.
4. The Green Papaya has a shelf life of longer period compared to a Ripened Papaya without preservation aid such as refrigeration.
5. It would be proper to understand the fundamental and primary logic that, when the farmer plucks the Tender and Green Papaya from its plant, logically he/she would sacrifice a lot of weight ( opportunity loss of the weight of the fruit ) that could be 2-3 times minimum of the green papaya. This opportunity loss of the weight ( of green papaya) could have been realized had he/she allowed it to stay on the plant for say 2-more months approximately, practically at no extra cost.
6. Therefore, the yield of the Green Papaya for the farmer just gets half or one third ( 1/2 or 1/3 ) of the yield ( in terms of weight ) he would have got by allowing the fruit to mature on the plant and then ripen.
7. Therefore, by straight calculation, a farmer should realize the price of Green Papaya per kg that would be roughly twice of that ( at minimum to be fair ) he should get for the matured and Ripened Papaya to even out his return from papaya cropping. When the farm gate price of Green Papaya is higher, considering the trade margins load on similar footing, the Green Papaya will be priced much higher compared to the Ripened Papaya in the market, it goes without saying.
8. It is another factor that the Green Papaya supply is less in the market normally as it is not consumed as extensively as a vegetable as it is done as a ripened fruit ( some demand supply economics has to be in play there ). Further the Ripened Papaya being more perishable than the Green Papaya, the seller would be tempted to sell it faster, may be at a cheaper price in stead of holding risk, compared to a seller of the Green Papaya.
Since the quarrel was
happening where I got to be present coincidently as I said above, I mediated
voluntarily between the two persons quarrelling and explained the above factors
in simple language, it was understood by both and the matter was put to rest.
The Readers, who
may be working in Agricultural Produce, may find, invariably, Baby Corn is
priced much higher than the Full Grown Corn, Tender Cucumbers, Tender Pumpkins,
Tender Brinjals and Tender Ladies Fingers etc., the vegetables which are sold
in tender stage and liked by many people at that stage, are sold at much higher
price ( may be 2-3-4 times on per kg basis ) compared to the full grown
vegetables/fruits of the same products. When it is packed and processed for
preservation; the pricing of such tender vegetables/fruits are much higher
compared to that playing in the open market.
I wrote this article
for the right understanding of those who deal with these kinds of products to
be considerate primarily towards the farmers in the first place, and towards
the selling community in the next place. The logic goes behind in valuation and
pricing as I explained is worth considering.
There could be many
other issues to consider in the relevant situations, however I say that, I
mentioned above factors on primary basis and not exhaustive basis.
It may be fair on my
part to make clear, that I do not consider everybody among the readers is not aware
of it, those who knew it could kindly excuse me, however, some who may not be
aware of it or would not have applied mind on it ever, may find its utility.
About the Author : Dr. Nimain Charan Biswal is a B.Sc.(Agri. Science and Technology), M.B.A. and Ph.D.(Management Area ) by qualifications and he has 36 years of work experience in both industrial and development sectors in diversified fields of social importance. He has been educated at Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT)-Bhubaneswar, Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) and Gujarat University (with Resource Support of IIM-Ahmedabad). Dr. Biswal is further educated at IIM-Calcutta, XLRI-Jamshedpur, Apple Computer Industries and Spar Inc., USA. He has worked for reputed National and International Organizations in Senior/Top Management Capacities at Board level as well as Managing Director and CEO. He is a management expert covering extensive areas from management in agriculture, industrial management, development management to management of public systems. He is a prominent professional of India and known Internationally as well. He lives at Mumbai in India.
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