Government to sell tomatoes at Rs 40 a kg from 20 August

On Friday, the federal government instructed the National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF) and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) to make tomatoes available to retail consumers at a rate of Rs. 40 per kilogram starting from August 20th.

The decision by the Department of Consumer Affairs follows a decline in wholesale rates.

NCCF and NAFED have been selling tomatoes in Delhi-NCR, Jaipur and Kota in Rajasthan, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi and Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh and Patna, Muzaffarpur, Arrah and Buxar in Bihar.

The selling price of tomatoes procured by NCCF and NAFED was initially fixed at Rs 90 per kg. It was has been successively reduced in line with the decline in wholesale rates.

Retail price was last cut to Rs. 50 a kg was on 15 August.

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In compliance with the directives from the Department of consumer affairs, the NCCF and NAFED had initiated the acquisition of tomatoes from markets in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. The objective was to ensure simultaneous distribution in significant consumption hubs. The retail prices witnessed the highest escalation within a month.

Sale of tomatoes in Delhi-NCR started on 14 July.

Till date, over 15 lakh kg of tomatoes had been procured by the two agencies. They are being continuously disposed in the retail markets in major consumption centres in the country.

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