India has started importing tomatoes from Nepal, says Nirmala Sitharaman

As the country continues to grapple with unprecendentedly high tomato prices, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on the floor of the Parliament during the no-confidence motion debate that the government has begun importing tomatoes from the neighbouring state of Nepal. 

In her speech she shared several measures being taken by the government to reduce tomato prices, saying, "Procurement of tomatoes from tomato growing regions of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and distribution of these through cooperative societies like NCCF (National Cooperative Consumer's Federation of India) and NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India) are underway," adding that in Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan, this distribution had begun on July 14 and will continue to take place. "In Delhi, mobile vans are distributing tomatoes as outlets of NCCF and NAFED."

Import underway

Adding to the efforts being made domestically, she said that the government has removed import restrictions and initiated imports of the commodity from Nepal, with the delivery of the first lot expected to reach Varanasi, Lucknow and Kanpur on Friday itself. 

Meanwhile, as of Thursday, tomatoes have also been booked through Kolar mandi to reach Delhi at Rs 85 per kg. "Already the prices of tomatoes in the wholesale mandis in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have started coming down below Rs 100 and we expect this to help us," she explained. 

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman added that so far, NCCF has distributed 8,84,612 kgs of tomatoes in Rajasthan, Delhi-NCR and Uttar Pradesh and this will be increased in the coming days, further sharing that citizens of Delhi-NCR can procure tomoatoes through the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). "NCCF is planning a mega-sale of tomatoes in Delhi-NCR at a subsidised rate of Rs 70 per kg this weekend, covering all nooks and corners of Delhi," she said.

Tomatoes in Nepal 

According to Selina Wamucii, an end-to-end platform for sourcing food and agricultural produce from cooperatives, the wholesale price of tomatoes in Nepal is ranging between NPR 62.31 and NPR 110.04 (INR 38.93 and INR 68.75), while the retail price ranges between NPR 88.86 and NPR 157.82 (INR 55.52 and INR 98.60).

Other commodities

Apart from tomatoes, she also shared that to tackle the high prices of Toor Dal, import measures have been undertaken and shipments from Mozambique are on the way. For Urad Dal, which saw a 14 per cent lower sowing in the current kharif season vis-a-vis last year, the government is expecting to import 3 lakh metric tonnes from Myanmar. The domestic stock of Moong Dal is being tackled through aggressive disposal measure, while Chana is being converted into Chana Dal as well. Moreover, 3 lakh metric tonnes of onions, which are in comfortable stock currently, has also been procured to maintain a buffer.