Price rise and fall of vegetables and fruits are influenced by their demand and supply which further depend on various factors like cost of inputs (fertilizers, rural wages), perishability and storability of the produce, transportation cost, loading/ unloading expenses, grading/sorting, wholesaler’s margin, losses during movement, cost and margin of retailers, supply chain constraints like lack of storage and cold chain facilities, artificial shortage created by hoarding and black marketing and adverse weather conditions etc.
Government takes various measures from time to time to stabilize prices of essential food items which, inter-alia, include appropriately utilizing trade and fiscal policy instruments like import duty, Minimum Export Price, export restrictions, etc. to regulate domestic availability and moderate prices; imposition of stock limits and advising States/UTs for effective action against hoarders & black marketers. Government is also implementing Schemes which, inter alia, include Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) for productivity enhancement of horticultural crops and Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) Scheme for price stabilization of agri-horticultural commodities like pulses, onion, and potato through appropriate interventions. Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) is implementing scheme “Operation Greens” for integrated development of Tomato, Onion and Potato (TOP) value chain which, inter alia, has the objective of price stabilization for producers and consumers through production planning in the TOP clusters and introduction of dual use varieties.
Review meetings on price and availability situation of essential commodities, including selected vegetables viz. onion, potato and tomato, are held at the highest level including at the level of Ministers, Committee of Secretaries, Inter Ministerial Committee, Price Stabilization Fund Management Committee and other Departmental level review meetings for taking appropriate price intervention decisions including possible market-intervention, if any.
This information was given in a written reply by the Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Shri. Danve Raosaheb Dadarao in Rajya Sabha today.
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