The central government on Wednesday declared that it has directed its marketing agencies namely NAFED and NCCFÂ to sell tomatoes at Rs 70 per kg instead of Rs 80 with effect from Thursday.
According to reports, the tomatoes procured by National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) had been retailed, initially, at Rs 90 per kg and then slashed to Rs 80 per kg from July 16, 2023, to Rs 70 from July 20.
Amidst a sharp rise in tomato prices across the country, the agencies NCCF and NAFED started the procurement of tomatoes from mandis in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra for simultaneous disposal in major consumption areas where retail prices have registered the maximum increase in the past one month.
Issuing a statement, the Central Government mentioned that the retail sale of tomatoes in Delhi-NCR had started from 14th July, 2023. The statement further added that till 18th July, 2023 a total of 391 MT of tomato had been procured by the two agencies which are being continuously disposed of to the retail consumers in major consumption centres across Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.Â
The massive surge in tomato prices was reported across the country. In major cities, the tomato prices rose to as high as ₹150-200 per kg. As per reports, the periods during July and August, October and November are usually the lean production months for tomatoes.
Tomato is cultivated and produced almost in all the states in India, though in varying quantities. As far as reports are concerned, the southern and western regions of India account for 56-58 percent of total tomato production in the country.
Reportedly, the ruling government attributed the unprecedented hike in tomato prices to the monsoon season, underlining that it added to the challenges concerning distribution and increased transit losses.
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