The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) and the National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF) have been instructed by the Centre to purchase tomatoes from mandis in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra for distribution at discounted rates through retail outlets by the end of this week, which will be a relief to consumers in Delhi-NCR.
To ensure that the tomatoes are supplied to the areas most impacted by price increases, major consuming hotspots with the greatest month-over-month retail price growth have been selected. The selection method prioritized places where current rates are higher than the national average, taking into account the absolute rise in price.
In wholesale markets, tomatoes are being sold at ₹160 per kg while in retail, the prices are hovering at approximately ₹180-200.
Although tomatoes are grown all across India, the southern and western parts of the country produce the majority of the nation's tomatoes, accounting for 56% to 58% of the nation's overall tomato output. December to February are the busiest months for tomato harvesting, whereas July-August and October-November are lean months.
The monsoon season and the month of July create extra distributional difficulties, increasing transit losses and resulting price increases. Seasonal price fluctuations in tomatoes are mostly influenced by changes in the planting and harvesting seasons as well as geographical variations. Price hikes can also be caused by brief supply chain interruptions and crop damage from unfavourable weather conditions.
The Ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution stated that currently the supplies coming to markets in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and some other states are mainly from Maharashtra especially Narayangaon, Satara and Nashik. It is expected that these supplies will last till this month’s end. Madanapalle (Chittoor) in Andhra Pradesh also has continued arrivals in reasonable quantities. The arrivals in Delhi-NCR are majorly from Himachal Pradesh and some quantity comes from Kolar in Karnataka.
With the arrival of fresh crop supplies from the Maharashtra region of Nashik, the situation is anticipated to improve soon. More supplies are anticipated from the Narayangaon and Aurangabad belt in August as well. Tomatoes from Madhya Pradesh are also anticipated to start arriving shortly.
