Farmers Movement Archive

Hoarding causes prices of pulses to almost double

When Meenakshi from Banashankari went grocery shopping a few days ago, she was shocked to see that the price of toor dal had almost doubled in a little over a fortnight. Other pulses too had become more expensive. While excess rain has had a role to play, industry insiders attribute the trend largely to the hoarding of pulses by “big players”. It has created an artificial scarcity in the market, which in turn, has resulted in a rally in prices over the last two weeks. For instance, toor dal that was trading in the range of Rs. 70–Rs. 90 a kg two weeks ago, but was being quoted from Rs. 100–Rs. 140 in the wholesale market on Saturday. The prices of other pulses have also shot up. This price rise comes in the immediate aftermath of the recent farm reforms Bills, which among other measures deregulated trade in pulses. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, recently passed by Parliament and made into law, removed pulses, cereals, and oil seeds from the list of essential commodities. “Big players have definitely resorted to hoarding over the last few weeks. However, unlike before, now that pulses are no longer an essential commodity, the government cannot check for stocks or intervene. The prices of pulses, cereals, and oil seeds will henceforth be prone to such artificial rallies,” said Ramesh Chandra Lahoti, chairman, APMC Committee, Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry. At a recent meeting of stakeholders, including mill owners, farmers and government officers, in Kalaburagi, which is the biggest contributor of red gram in Karnataka, it emerged that an artificial scarcity in the market was the primary reason for the rally in prices. Rithendra Sugoor, Joint Director of Agriculture, added that a premature assumption that this season’s harvest will be low had “prompted traders to keep the crop with them for better price”. T.N. Prakash Kammardi, former chairman of the Karnataka Agriculture Price Commission, said that this artificial rise in prices had proved their argument against the recent farm reform Bills. “The government should not give up control over agriculture commodity marketing. The present system, as is being shown, neither helps farmers nor consumers, but only big corporates,” he alleged. Farmers had sold red gram, from which toor dal is processed, at a low price of Rs. 6,100 a quintal earlier this year. What has aggravated the situation is crop loss owing to excess rain in parts of the State in August–September. “Of the 5.5 lakh hectares that had redgram sown in Kalaburagi, crop on over 1 lakh hectares has been completely damaged,” said Mr. Sugoor. However, he hoped the yield in the rest of the area would be good. Big players have definitely resorted to hoarding over the last few weeks. However, unlike before, now that pluses are no longer an essential commodity, the government cannot check for stocks or intervene,” Ramesh Chandra Lahoti,chairman, APMC Committee, FKCCI

The Hindu

2020-10-11

Bengaluru/Kalaburagi,KARNATAKA