The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

Wholesale Vegetable Market

ajoyroy

Member
Last week I thought of taking photos at the whole sale vegetable market in Delhi, India, with my Nokia Cell phone.
The idea was
a) Check if the 5MP camera of the 710 was good enough for street photography
b) Give an insight to the whole sale market for those who have never been to one.

View attachment 60058
General View

View attachment 60061
View attachment 60059
Oranges sold off the truck

View attachment 60060
Water Melon stall

View attachment 60062
Melons

View attachment 60063
Watermelon spread all over

View attachment 60064
Corn off the trucks

View attachment 60066
View attachment 60065
Green spices
 
Last edited:

ajoyroy

Member
Last edited:

Terry

New member
Lots of good shots to give a feeling of the market. That is a lot of produce to unload (the massive number of watermelons in particular. How far do people travel to either bring the vegetables or to buy them?
 

ajoyroy

Member
Lots of good shots to give a feeling of the market. That is a lot of produce to unload (the massive number of watermelons in particular. How far do people travel to either bring the vegetables or to buy them?
Most of the produce is local, that is comes from 10km to 300km away. Some vegetables come from a long way off
. New Potatoes from hills - 400km+, old ones from cold storage depots, bout 200km
. Onions come from every where, but major source is Maharashtra, about 1800 km away.
. Tomatoes are either local - the oblong smaller ones, or come from central India, say 1800km.
. Oranges are mainly from Nagpur area again 2000km
. Bananas are again from either East or West, again 1600km+

Exotic vegetables are grown by specialist farmers around Delhi and cater to the restaurant trade mostly.

The buyers are mostly locals. A few are end consumers like me, but most are shop keepers, who come from as far as 50km away.
 

ajoyroy

Member
The story (wholesale/retail) is a lot more complex, isn't it?

The images you show just one aspect of it. There is this "globalization" threatening the very existence of such business activities, especially in the big cities.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/b...miliar-complaint-in-india.html?pagewanted=all

that link does not seem to work.

http://www.google.nl/url?sa=t&rct=j...sg=AFQjCNF04iXLtwXiiIE7ayGsh_Bs8aBUmw&cad=rja
First of all let me state that I have presented the Images more from Street Photography view, than as a comment on the System.:D

As you said the story is more complex, but for most of the vegetable growers and consumers, the Whole Sale Market is a way it is. There is a lot of mark up in the whole chain. For example, take the price of Tomato last week
- At Farmer's End - Rs.0.5/Kg
- In the whole Sale Market - Rs.4/Kg
- Vegetable Vendor - Rs.12/Kg
- Shop - Rs.20/Kg

These are real prices collected first hand in Delhi. In general the mark up between the farmer and the shop is at least 10 times and normally 20 times. Of course the markup includes transportation, inventory holding and the loading/unloading costs at each stage.

In times of Glut the farmer barely recovers the cost, and in times of shortage it is the middle man who makes the most. In Delhi the price of Onions varies from Rs.5/kg to Rs.70/kg, with a median of Rs.10/kg. Assuming that the other costs remain same irrespective of boom or bust, the middle man is making a tremendous profit at times.

The problem with western style grocery shops is many fold
- Indians buy small quantities of vegetable, preferably twice a day
- Most of the population has no personal transportation, hence are dependent on the friendly neighbourhood stores
- Cost of real estate is prohibitive in Urban India, so to be viable large stores have to be located in distant suburbs
- For those who have personal transport, buying vegetables, even once a day from distant markets is not feasible due to time and money involved in traveling
- Lastly Indians are used to sorting and choosing their vegetables, and buying just as much as they want. Some stores have tried pre packaged vegetables, but soon gave up as the packets were rejected by buyers.
 
V

Vivek

Guest
First of all let me state that I have presented the Images more from Street Photography view, than as a comment on the System.:D
It was more a question (to get some answers) based on the ensuing discussion. Thanks for your detailed clarification! :)

FWIW, those who are familiar with the situation for example, in the UK, would find lots of parallels- not a matter of 'western' or 'eastern'.
 
D

das_schlechte_gewissen

Guest
Market (3)
View attachment 60076
Green Chillies - medium variety

View attachment 60077
Mint - sold in bunches

View attachment 60078
Coriander Leaves - sold in bunches

View attachment 60079
Garlic and ginger. Most Indian meat preparations use both.

View attachment 60080
General View of stalls

View attachment 60081
General View of stalls

View attachment 60082
Capsicum

View attachment 60083
Broccoli
View attachment 60084
Specialist - mushrooms, broccoli, sweet corn in packets
ajoyroy,

your beautiful pictures immediately inspired me to go to my juicer in the kitchen. :)

I juiced a liter of organic chard (Mangold), broccoli and fennel.

Oh, mmh, this dark green juice was excellent. :thumbup:
Pure nature, pure life, that tastes so well and makes you feel so good. :thumbup:

The juice goes in every cell, prickels up again to the skin of your face and into the eyes and just makes you happy.
:thumbs:

Spinach and sellerie is excellent as well.

And fruits of all colours of course. :)
 
C

Cam era

Guest
What a colorfully educating thread this is! Are all of the vendors at this street level the actual growers or are these workers selling for mega-farm businesses? It just seems to me that even though the large chains don't find it viable to build markets everywhere, that they would still want to be controlling the local "cart" vendors.
 
Top