CONCERNED over rising food prices, the government on Wednesday said that agricultural trade barriers within the country were making commodities costlier in some states. "Why should food prices be different across states in a national economy...that is because there are barriers to agricultural trade,' finance minister's adviser Shubhashis Gangopadhyay said at a post-Budget meeting at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India here on Wednesday. The ability to control price inflation at the point where it is occurring is a big problem because commodities don't move in some areas, he said. He said expenditure-driven growth is going to give rise to more inflation. Food prices were high in the states wherever the disbursement of funds from various government programmes such as NREG was more, he noted. Last year, agricultural labour wage rate went higher than the food price inflation, he added. Mr Gangopadhyay said wherever necessary, the government would intervene to check the rising trend. Earlier during the day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the government was committed to maintaining "reasonable' price stability at 4-5%, but it will not be at the cost of farmers. HIGH PRICE CONCERNS The ability to control price inflation at the point where it is occurring is a big problem because commodities don't move in some areas Food prices were high in the states wherever the disbursement of funds from various government programmes such as NREG