Onion prices fall below Rs 4 per kg

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, May 3

Prices of certain varieties of onions fell below Rs 4 per kg in the wholesale markets of Lasalgaon and Pimpalgaon near Nashik today, sparking off protests among farmers.

According to traders, onion prices have been on the decline due to bumper crop last season. “Good quality onion is available at around Rs 600 per quintal, but lower qualities are available at Rs 300 per quintal,” says Shashank Bhansode, a trader from Lasalgaon.

The sharp fall in onion prices has sparked panic among farmers who cultivated the crop in a big way after retail prices spiked to as much as Rs 80 per kg last August. On Monday, Subhash Gangurde, an onion farmer threw all his harvested onions on the road since the wholesale prices of onions did not even cover his production cost. According to farmers’ bodies in Nashik, it costs as much as Rs 1,000 to produce one quintal of onion.

Highly fluctuating onion prices have caused havoc among farmers and consumers alike. During the monsoons when moisture damages the crop, onion prices soar to stratospheric levels. And farmers swayed by higher prices cultivate the bulb in a big way only to see a glut in the forthcoming winter and summer.