Agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today said that the Centre has formed a committee to ensure that the gap between the price farmers receive and the rates consumers pay for perishable commodities, such as tomatoes, is reduced.
“Tomato is grown in the village, but its rate increases when it reaches the cities. If the Centre and the state together bear the cost of transportation, then city dwellers will get cheaper vegetables, and the farmer will get a better price,” Chouhan told reporters on the sidelines of the annual rabi conference here today.
The minister's comments come in the wake of spiralling prices of perishable commodities such as onions and tomatoes, with the latter selling at around Rs 100 per kg.
Recently, a working paper by the Reserve Bank of India showed that tomatoes are among the crops that receive the smallest share of every rupee a consumer spends on their purchase.
The paper estimates that farmers' share of every rupee that the consumer spends is around 33.5 per cent for tomatoes, 36 per cent for onions, and 37 per cent for potatoes.
In contrast, egg and chana farmers receive almost 75 per cent of every rupee spent by consumers in purchasing them, the working paper showed.
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Meanwhile, Chouhan said that there is no shortage of fertiliser anywhere in the country and that the sudden spike in demand is due to the long duration of transport, which is being sorted out.
He said that both the Centre and the states together should experiment on how to create a model farm.
“Work should be done on how farmers can carry out farming on one, two, or two-and-a-half acres of land. Many farmers have said that they earn well on one acre. Experiments should be done in different states. We have to change the traditional form of farming,” Chouhan said.
He said that since the start of the Modi government’s third term in office, around 2.5 million new farmers have been added to the flagship PM KISAN scheme.
He said steps should also be taken to make better use of the network of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs).
“These (KVKs) are not controlled from one place. Some are run by ICAR, some by universities, and some by the states. There should be better coordination among them,” Chouhan said.
Note: The crop year runs from July to June
*As per the latest advanced estimate
**In million bales (1 bale=170 kgs)
# In million bales (1 bale=180 kgs)