 "A labourer carries a sack of onions at a vegetable market in Kolkata")
The Centre on Wednesday decided to purchase around 15,000 tonnes of onion from farmers to push up the commodity's prices, which have been reeling at record lows. The government also started selling 400 tonnes of tur and urad in Delhi through SAFAL stores and Kendriya Bhandars at a fixed rate to cool the market.
It also proposed a stock limit of 5,000 quintals for sugar traders in most parts of the country also to bring down prices. A decision empowering the states to impose stock limits on sugar to check hoarding had already been taken few days ago. In Kolkata and its adjoining areas, this limit has been proposed at 10,000 tonnes.
“Onion will be purchased at a price of Rs 8.5-9.50 per kg, which is far more than the prevailing market rate of Rs 1-2 per kg with an intention to help the farmers,” Food Minister Ramvilas Paswan told reporters. The commodity will be bought by state-run National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Federation (Nafed) and Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC), both of whom function under the ministry of agriculture.
The difference between the market rate of onion and the price at which the Centre plans to purchase it from farmers will be adjusted from the newly-created Rs 900-crore price stabilisation fund.
Already, Nafed has purchased around 1,500 tonnes of onion from farmers in Maharashtra’s Nashik, while SFAC has bought 800 tonnes.
In Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, where prices have dropped to record lows due to bumper harvest, a high-level team of officials will visit to explore storage facilities in those states.
“It must be understood that FCI (Food Corporation of India) or state and Central Warehousing Corporations are not equipped to handle onion storage and we don’t have adequate facilities across the country, which is why there is some delay,” said Paswan.
He added that instructions have been issued to state officials to hire private storage centres to store the onion purchased from farmers so that it can be liquidated as soon as prices rise. This year's onion production is expected to be 20.3 million tonnes (mt) against 19 mt last year.
On pulses, the minister said the Centre has already created a buffer stock of 50,000 tonnes of pulses and has written to states to approach it for allotment of pulses, which can then be sold through retail outlets. “We're giving un-milled tur at the rate of Rs 66 a kg and urad at Rs 82 a kg, which the states are free to sell at a price, which should not exceed Rs 120 a kg after taking into account milling, storing and transporting charges,” Paswan added.
In Delhi, 400 tonnes of tur and urad will be sold through the SAFAL stores and Kendriya Bhandars at a rate of Rs 120 a kg from Wednesday onwards. So far, Paswan said Rajasthan has placed a demand for 1,000 tonnes of tur and urad from the buffer stock. Andhra Pradesh has placed an order for 8,000 tonnes of tur and an allocation of 2,000 tonnes has already been made towards it.
Tamil Nadu has demanded 10,000 tonnes of tur and 5,000 tonnes of urad and it has been allocated 2,000 tonnes of tur and 1,000 tonnes of urad, while Telangana has placed an order for 15,000 tonnes of tur and it has been allocated 2,000 tonnes. Maharashtra, one of the country’s main pulses growing-states, has placed an order for 30,000 tonnes of pulses.
“We have till now purchased 50,000 tonnes of pulses for the buffer and are in process of buying another 100,000 tonnes during the current rabi season. Plus, 26,000 tonnes are being imported. Therefore, we are fully prepared to meet any demand from the states,” Paswan said.
On sugar, the minister said the Centre’s recent decision to empower states to impose stock-holding limits won’t have any impact on mills' ability to clear cane dues, because much of the arrears have already been paid. “The stock-holding limit is just a start and we'll take all steps to ensure that there is no unusual rise in prices,” the minister said.
He said that already, the May, July and September futures were showing a rise in prices, which was one of the reasons behind the government’s recent clampdown on sugar traders.
The minister said India might end up exporting 1.5 mt of sugar and the total closing stock as on September 30, 2016 was 6.97 mt - 20 per cent less than the previous close.
