Retail prices of onion are 36 per cent higher, those of tomato 25 per cent more, while potato rates are 2 per cent lower as of January 23 from the year-ago period. If consumers are paying higher, farmers have been realising higher rates with the proportion of hike almost in sync.

An analysis by businessline, based on the data compiled by the Agmarknet portal, showed the average mandi (farm-gate) prices of tomato in January (1-23) increased 26.2 per cent to ₹1,407/quintal from ₹1,115 a year ago and onion by 23 per cent to ₹1,586/quintal from ₹1,288. On the other hand, the average potato price dipped 13.5 per cent to ₹771/quintal from ₹891.

Checking price spurt

Official sources said the intervention of the Consumer Affairs Ministry has proved more effective than the Operation Green scheme, which is managed by the Food Processing Ministry. While launching Operation Green for tomato, onion and potato (TOP), it was envisioned that both consumer and farmers to benefit by maintaining reasonable and stable prices all through the year, avoiding sudden fluctuation.

Citing the recent intervention in case of onion, an official said the Consumer Affairs Ministry through cooperatives such as Nafed and NCCF managed to sell the edible bulb to consumers at ₹25/kg even though the procurement cost was higher. That particular step ensured a check on open market price, which could have crossed ₹100/kg.

However, according to an Agriculture Ministry official, the “TOP” scheme was designed at protecting farmers against price crash and has not been designed for the consumers. Under the TOP scheme, the Centre provides 50 per cent subsidy for the transport of these crops from production to storage, and for hiring appropriate storage facilities.

No monitoring

The Food Processing Ministry, in fact, launched a portal in February 2020 aimed at forecasting wholesale prices of TOP vegetables for three months. It was said the website would help enable the government to monitor the supply situation for timely market interventions in case of a price crash during a glut.

However, there seems no such monitoring is happening as the government could also get alert when prices tend to show an increase three months in advance, said the official source.

Now that all India average onion price in retail market reached ₹37/kg and that of tomato at ₹32/kg as of January 23, whereas in National Capital Region of Delhi both are mostly available at around ₹40/kg, each, many people feel there may be further hike in summer, when rates are usually more compared to winter.

Related Topics