New Delhi: Amid the hike in prices of tomatoes in the retail market, the Minister of State of Consumer Affairs Ashwini Kumar Choubey stated that prices of tomatoes are expected to come down with the increase in the arrival of new crops from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

This was in response to an unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha by MP Kartikeya Sharma in the Monsoon session of the Parliament. The Consumer Affairs Minister further stated that to check the current increase in prices of tomatoes and make them available to the consumers at affordable prices, the Government has started the procurement of tomatoes under Price Stabilisation Fund and is making them available at a highly subsidised rate to consumers. (Also Read: ‘Rs 50K Stipend, 5 Hrs Of Work’: Gen Z Intern’s Demands During Interview)

“The National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) are continuously procuring tomato from mandis in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra and making it available at affordable prices in major consuming centres in Delhi-NCR, Bihar, Rajasthan after subsidizing the price to the consumers,” the Minister stated.

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“The tomatoes have been disposed initially at the retail price of Rs.90/kg which has been reduced to Rs.80/kg from 16.07.2023 and further reduced to Rs.70/kg from 20.07.2023,” the statement added.

The Minister said that the current increase in tomato prices may incentivize farmers to grow more tomato crops which is expected to stabilize the prices in the coming months.

The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DAFW) implements Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) to protect the growers of perishable agri-horticultural commodities from making distress sales in the event of a bumper crop during the peak arrival period when the prices tend to fall below economic levels and cost of production, the Minister stated.

However, he added that the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has not received any proposal from State Governments so far for market intervention to address the distress sale of tomatoes.

Further, he stated that the Ministry of Food Processing Industries implements Operation Greens for enhancing value addition and reduction in post-harvest losses of agri-horticultural commodities, including tomatoes.