According to the Cameron Highlands Vegetable Growers Association prices for tomatoes, chillies and capsicum from the highlands are set to go up by nearly 70 percent due to a poor harvest caused by cold temperatures and pest infestation.

However, the prices of leafy greens such as sawi or mustard greens, siew pak choy or bok choy and iceberg lettuce are going down as there was a bumper harvest of these crops so far for this year.

The association stated that fruit flies and the low temperatures are affecting the crops and the harvests for certain vegetables including French beans, Japanese cucumbers and spinach have been affected.

Temperatures at present in Cameron Highlands is 22 degrees Celsius during the day and between 15 and 16 degrees Celsius at night and heavy rain is also being recorded which is why crop production has been affected.

The price of green capsicum is more than RM10 per kilo, while the yellow and red capsicums could fetch up to RM15 per kilo while chillies are about RM7 per kilo, French beans about RM7 also and tomatoes at RM5.

The Kinta Vegetable Wholesalers Association confirmed that prices of leafy vegetables have come down and crop production has been affected and that sometimes vegetables do not even reach Ipoh as they are sent to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE