Onions set to bring tears as farmers shun crop

MUMBAI: Onion prices are set to soar during the festival season later this year as fewer farmers planted the bulb as part of the rabi crop due to falling prices and poor rainfall, according to information available from the Maharashtra government''s Agriculture Department.

Illustration Sandeep Joshi

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, May 9

Onion prices are set to soar during the festival season later this year as fewer farmers planted the bulb as part of the rabi crop due to falling prices and poor rainfall, according to information available from the Maharashtra government's Agriculture Department.

"Only about 18,000 hectares was brought under the onion crop during the rabi season as against over 80,000 hectares in normal years (a decline of 77.5%)," an official from the Agriculture Department said. He said many farmers did not sow the rabi crop due to poor rainfall. On the other hand, wholesale prices of onion fell below Re 1 per kg causing huge losses to farmers.

The rabi crop has a longer shelf life and is released from cold storages till the kharif or monsoon crop hits the market around early November.

According to onion traders in the main markets of Lasalgaon and Pimpalgaon near Nashik, the wholesale prices of the bulb have gradually firmed up over the past few months. "Onion prices touched a low of Re 1 in December/January. Since then, the price is going up as the supply has reduced. Wholesale price of good quality onions was Rs 7.30 a kg last month and is now Rs 8,” say Avinash Mali, an onion trader.

Retail price of onions in Mumbai has risen from Rs 4-5 earlier this year to nearly Rs 18 at present.

With onion prices threatening to go up ahead of the assembly elections later this year, the Maharashtra government is stockpiling on the bulb.

The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (Nafed) began purchase of onions last month at an average price of Rs 1,025 per quintal, which was higher than the price at which traders were buying from farmers at the Lasalgaon and Pimpalgaon mandis.

State government sources say Nafed will complete the purchase of around 50,000 tonnes of onions by this month under the price stability programme of the Central government. The onions purchased by the Central body will be released in the retail market to tamp down prices later this year when supply is expected to be short, according to officials.

However, farmers’ bodies say the quantities purchased by Nafed are insignificant. During the peak season, more than 20,000 tonnes of onions are traded in Lasalgaon on a daily basis, according to traders.