In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, the minister said white fly disease in Kolar district of Karnataka, heavy monsoon showers in parts of northern India and logistics disruptions in isolated areas in the wake of floods are also to be blamed for the sudden surge in tomato prices.
The minister also said prices of pulses like arhar have gone up due to lower production this year.
The average retail price of tomato in the country has jumped five times to about Rs 136 per kg over the past two months, according to the consumer affairs ministry data. The average price of tur/arhar has gone up 9% in two months, the data showed.
Sitharaman highlighted various measures initiated by the government to augment domestic supplies of essential commodities and soften blow to consumers. These steps include timely releases of onion and pulses from the buffer stock, imposition of stock limits to traders, wholesalers and retailers, monitoring of stocks declared by entities to prevent hoarding, changes in trade policy instruments like the rationalisation of import duty, tweaks in the import quota and restrictions on exports of select commodities.
Following government orders, the National Cooperative Consumers’ Forum of India (NCCF) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) have also procured tomatoes from producing states for easy supplies to consumption centres, she said.“Government has also carefully calibrated import policy for different pulses, imposed stock limits on tur and urad and released tur from the buffer stock in a targeted manner,” the minister added.Retail inflation rose to 4.81% in June from a 25-month low of 4.31% in the previous month, as price pressure in the food segment jumped to 4.49% from 2.96%.
Sitharaman informed the Lok Sabha that wholesale price inflation in key agricultural inputs like fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides dropped gradually in the June quarter from a year before.
To protect vulnerable sections of society from price rise, the government is implementing the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana under which grains are provided free of cost to around 800 million beneficiaries of National Food Security Act, Sitharaman said.
Similarly, the One Nation One Ration Card scheme has been implemented for nationwide portability of ration cards to address the difficulties of migrant workers and others, she said.
Beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana are provided a subsidy of Rs 200 per each cooking gas cylinder of 14.2 kg each for up to 12 refills a year, she added.