K R Sudhaman
Onion and pulses prices soar periodically in India India
In onion the wastage is around 30-40 lakh tonnes every year. The
shortfall during years of crop failure or destruction of standing onion crops
due to floods or unseasonal rails is usually not more than 10 lakh tonnes. When
this shortfall is not bridged prices skyrocket and political parties take
advantage of it. Sometimes shortfall is engineered to manipulate prices. If
only the country manages save just 25-30 per cent of the wastage through better
cold storage facility, the supply can be regulated preventing any spurt in
prices. Unfortunately this does not happen in the country as it prevents
traders and political bosses to reap benefit from price manipulations.
In the case of pulses the problem is more complex. India Bihar
assembly elections because of the soaring prices of pulses, which touched Rs
200 a kilo. Rightly government has thought of creating a buffer now for pulses.
The agriculture ministry has now decided to create a buffer of 50,000 tonnes of
pulses using the market stablisation fund. The new pulses crops start coming
into the market from January and government would start creation through
imported pulses from that month. Initially it will import 10,000 tonnes. This
makes sense as when India India India Myanmar and certain varieties like chik-pea in Australia and Canada
As a permanent solution India East Africa which is conducive
for growing pulses. The quantity produced produced there could brought to India Eastern
India when he was Finance Minister. That did help in marginally
increasing pulses production in subsequent years but unfortunately that
programme has appraently not been sustained and expanded. There is also scope
for increasing yield of pulses in the country as it is usually grown only in
arid region. If it is grown irrigated area, the yield automatically increases,
but farmers prefers to grow rice and wheat as it ensure assured and
remunerative prices. Government should therefore come out with some incentives
to farmers to shift to pulses cultivation in some of their irrigated land in
the country.
Rating agency
Crisil has said in a recent report that there is a clear pattern of a spike in
pulses inflation every third year, though this year the peak is higher than the
last two peaks, with wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation already
crossing 34 per cent average so far.
It said this
year’s spike can be explained by supply side shocks, mainly from deficient
monsoon and higher global prices, while various other factors – such as drought
and delayed rains, high growth, shift toward protein consumption and demand
pushed up by higher rural wages due to NREGA – can explain the previous spikes.
Though
pulses is grown in all seasons, rabi and kharif. Its shorter variety is grown
during the intermediate season, thereby there is a three crop every year. But
in India it is mostly a rabi
crop and four states, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra ,
Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh account for 70 per cent of the production. But
pulses is grown in most parts of the country in smaller quantity.
Crisil
report noted that while food prices were the biggest contributor to the decline
in the consumer price inflation (CPI), pulses inflation had seen the sharpest
spike in a decade. The CPI and WPI inflation for pulses was 42.2 per cent and
53 per cent, respectively, in October.
This statistics
reveals more than what they hide. It is certainly a wake up call for the
government to act to deal with this problem, which is not insurmountable. But
the question is will the government have the political will as price
manipulations benefits traders and political parties to the deteriment of
common man. Anyway Narentdra Modi government has made a beginning by deciding
to create a buffer of pulses and one only hope it is carried forward to bring
about price stability. It would augur well for common man, if onion is tackled
on a permanent basis to provide relief to common man.
(K. R Sudhaman, who has 40 years of experience
in journalism in currently Editor, SMEpost.com and has been Editor in Press
Trust of India, TickerNews and Financial Chronicle)
