The Government has informed the Lok Sabha that onion procurement has been continuing under the Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) with the buffer target being raised to 7 lakh tonnes.

Replying to a query on Wednesday, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, said the procurement target for buffer has been raised in the 2023-24 fiscal, from 2.50 lt in 2022-23.

Stating that procurement of onions from farmers has been continuing since June 2023, he said 6.30 lt of onions have been procured till date.

The procured onions have been continuously released through retail sales, e-NAM auction and bulk sales in wholesale markets. Onion buffer operations under PSF have helped in moderating the annual seasonal volatility in prices, he said.

In order to check the seasonal volatility in prices of onion, buffer stock is maintained under the PSF to make onions available to consumers at affordable prices during lean season.

Tomato

When prices of tomato surged during July-August 2023, due to white fly infestation and adverse weather condition, tomatoes were procured under PSF from source markets and made available to retail consumers in high-price regions at subsidised rates through the National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (Nafed). Through the intervention, the retail prices of tomato were brought down to normal level by first half of September 2023, he said.

Bharat Dal

To make dals available to consumers at affordable prices, the Government launched Bharat Dal in July 2023, by converting Chana stock in the PSF into Chana dal for retail disposal. The Bharat Chana Dal is made available to the consumers at subsidized rates of ₹60 a kg for 1-kg pack and ₹55 per kg for 30-kg pack.

He said around 2.97 lt of Bharat Chana Dal has been sold to retail consumers which constitute about 25 per cent of household consumption of Chana Dal. The Bharat Dal has been extended to include Moong Dal by converting Moong stock in the PSF buffer into Moong Dal and Moong Sabut for retail sale to the consumers at subsidized prices of ₹107 a kg and ₹93 a kg, respectively.

He said a total of 91.62 lt of pulses has been acquired under PSF buffer, and around 86.45 lt of pulses have been disposed of. During 2022-23 and 2023-24 (till January 31), a total of 24.19 lt of pulses was released from the buffer, he said.

Halal certification

To a separate question on the halal certification of non-veg products by certain private bodies, Choubey said the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB), Quality Council of India (QCI) had granted accreditation to Halal Shariat Islamic Law (HaSIL) Board, Lucknow; Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind Halal Trust, New Delhi; and JUHF Certification Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, as per International Standard ISO/IEC 17065 under India Conformity Assessment Scheme (i-CAS) for halal products.

In a notification dated April 6 2023, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) empowered NABCB to accredit halal certification bodies for exports of meat and meat products under the i-CAS for halal products and to take remedial step to minimize unauthorized halal certifications in India.

He said Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) is designated as the overall monitoring agency for the purpose of halal certification for exports of meat and meat products.

PMGKAY

To a question on the beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, said around 80.49 crore people have availed the benefits of PMGKAY till January 31 of 2023-24. Around 80.10 crore people had availed the benefits of this scheme during the financial year 2022-23.

PMGKAY was launched with the specific purpose of ameliorating the hardships faced by the poor and needy due to economic disruptions caused by the Covid outbreak in the country in 2020.

She said the extension of free foodgrains under PMGKAY for five years with effect from January 1 2024, reflects the long-term commitment and vision of the Government for addressing national food and nutrition security.

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