India’s Summer Vegetables Get Costlier as May Heat Hits Global Record

Vegetable prices in Kolkata are seeing a sudden increase due to extreme heat and inadequate pre-monsoon rainfall, according to TOI. Traders and consumers are reporting a sharp increase in the cost of summer vegetables, with some now selling at about double their previous prices.

Erratic weather is affecting the supply chain starting from farms to retail markets. “The quality of vegetables has deteriorated. The produce is smaller, less fresh and spoils quickly, making it hard to store. So, vendors are lowering their uptake,” Kamal De, President of the West Bengal Vendors’ Association told TOI.

Experts believe that scarce rainfall and persistent heatwaves are key contributors to the rising vegetable prices. “From June to mid-Sept, brinjal output drops by as much as 70-80% as old plants are uprooted and fresh ones take time to yield,” a source in the horticulture department told TOI.

This disruption in agricultural output stems from broader shifts in climate. According to the Economic Survey 2024-25, climate-change induced weather extremities be it prolonged heatwaves to erratic rainfall have significantly disrupted agricultural production, causing sharp rise in vegetable prices.

The world experienced its second-hottest month of May, with global surface temperatures last month averaging 1.4 degrees Celsius above the estimated average temperature of 1850-1900 i.e., pre-industrial period, C3S said.

The global threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius is the limit of warming which countries vowed under the Paris climate agreement to try to prevent, to avoid the worst consequences of warming.

The world has not yet technically breached that target - which refers to an average global temperature of 1.5 degrees Celsius over decades.

However, some scientists have said it can no longer realistically be met, and have urged governments to cut CO2 emissions faster, to limit the overshoot and the fuelling of extreme weather.

C3S's records go back to 1940, and are cross-checked with global temperature records going back to 1850.

According to a report published in the journal Nature, heat and water stress can cause a 6-14% global food production decline by 2050, correspondingly increasing the number of people with severe food insecurity by up to 1.36 billion compared to 2020.