Plan to plug logistics gaps in tomato, onion, potato
NEW DELHI : Tomato, onion and potato (TOP) farmers battling frequent price crashes may have relief at hand, with the Centre working on a pilot scheme to remove logistics bottlenecks in these crucial perishable crops. The pilot will be conducted under the agriculture ministry’s market intervention scheme (MIS), two officials aware of the plan said.
India’s Operation Greens project supports hiring of storage facilities and provides a 50% upfront subsidy to farmers on freight for TOP crops, supported by the ministry of food processing industries. According to one of the two officials, storage has not been an issue thanks to the food processing ministry’s mega food park scheme; however, transport subsidy hasn’t worked out well, since there are no cooperatives or nodal agencies to purchase the crops, transport them and sell them at another place when prices crash, the official said on the condition of anonymity.
“At present, unlike PSS (price support scheme) and PSF (price stabilisation fund), proposals (for making market interventions) have to come from state governments and farmer bodies, which rarely happens," the official said. The government has formed a committee under the agriculture ministry to examine the matter and draft a plan to implement the TOP scheme effectively, the second official said.
“One meeting has already taken place and the findings are yet to come. Based on the committee’s recommendations, the matter will be taken forward," the official said on the condition of anonymity.
Bumper harvests tend to drive down prices of crops that are not covered by minimum support price (MSP), prompting farmers to dump crops or sell them at a loss. Under the Union agriculture ministry’s MIS, government agencies purchase
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