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 tomato is expected to come down with the increase in the arrival of new crop 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.
The (NCCF) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation 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. The tomatoes have been disposed initially at 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 crop which is expected to stabilize the prices in the coming months.