Nirmala Sitharaman Says Government Taking Steps To Stabilise Tomato, Dal Prices
The price of tur and arhar increased despite higher imports because of lower production, the Finance Minister said.
The government is monitoring the prices of essential food commodities such as tomatoes, onions and dal and is taking steps to augment domestic availability and stabilise the prices, according to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
"The government monitors the retail and wholesale prices of 22 essential food commodities submitted by the 536 price monitoring centres across the country," Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha on Monday, in a written reply during the monsoon session.
According to the Finance Minister, these steps include:
Timely release of onions and pulses from the buffer stock.
Imposition of stock limits on traders, wholesalers, and retailers.
Monitoring of stocks declared by entities to prevent hoarding.
Rationalisation of import duty.
Changes in import quotas and restrictions on exports of specific commodities.
According to government instructions, the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India have procured tomatoes from producing states for continuous disposal in major consumption centres, Sitharaman said.
Reasons For Price Rise
The rise in tomato prices could be attributed to crop seasonality, white-fly disease in Karnataka's Kolar district, the instant arrival of the monsoon in the northern part of the country, and logistics disruptions in isolated areas due to heavy rain, Sitharaman said. Karnataka is among the top tomato-producing states in the country.
"The price of tur and arhar increased despite higher imports because of lower production," she said.
The government also calibrated the import policy for different pulses, imposed stock limits on tur and urad and released tur from the buffer stock in a targeted manner, she said.
According to the Wholesale Price Index, inflation in key agricultural inputs like fertilisers, insecticides, and pesticides declined gradually from the previous year and remained low during the first quarter of the current fiscal, she said.
Buffer-Stock Norms
Changes to buffer-stock norms had been tailored to emerging demands, Sitharaman said. "In order to stabilise the volatility in onion prices, the government maintains a buffer under the Price Stabilisation Fund," she said. "The buffer size has been increased from which onions are released in major consumption centres during (the) lean production season of September–December."
On pulses, the government maintains a buffer stock by procuring from the wholesale market and transferring stocks procured under the price support scheme for a staggered release to the market. Additional stocks are also sold to retail operations under the brand name of 'Bharat Dal' at a subsidised rate.
