Surging prices of onions due to shutdown of Nashik wholesale markets are expected to lower in the coming days as farmers are eager to sell their stocks quickly to prevent them from rotting .jpg) Onion is expected to be available at reasonable rates despite large quantity of the vegetable rotting in June 2010. Nashik, a major onion producing region in the country, witnessed losses due to lack of cold storage facilities in the scorching summer months. Therefore, 25% of the onions got rotten in the open plinths. Anuj Roy, director of Shiva Foods, a mid-sized agro foods supplier in Nashik, Pune, opines, “Unlike 2009, favourable climatic conditions this year have bolstered onion production. In this regard, the India Meteorological Department has helped farmers to know about the onset of monsoon this year, which has improved the sowing process, thereby increasing onion output.” It must be noted that onion production has already witnessed a rise from 7.6 lakh tonne (lt) in 2009 to 8.5 lt in 2010.
Nevertheless, retail prices of onion have surged due to shutdown of the wholesale markets in Nashik in the latter half ofJune. Resultantly, onion prices rose from Rs 11 per kg to Rs 15 per kg in Delhi, whereas in Kolkata, consumers had to purchase the commodity at Rs 12 per kg instead of Rs 8 per kg.
However, Dinesh Garewal, managing director of Anand Agro Products, a small-sized onion exporter in Jaipur, says, “With the fear of the onions getting rotten owing to lack of cold storage facilities, farmers are now striving to clear their onion stocks at a quick pace. This would help to meet the high demand for the vegetable in the domestic market, thereby stabilising its retail prices for a certain period of time.”
Measures to be undertaken
Onion is perishable in nature. Therefore, farmers should ensure that inferior quality onions are not stored along with better quality ones as it would lead to damage of huge quantity of onions. This would in turn lead to non-availability and hike in the retail prices of onions across the country, thereby affecting consumers as well as traders.
The government should also ensure that cold storage capacity is increased so that onions can be stored in huge bulk for a long period of time. These store houses should have proper infrastructural facilities to retain the quality of onions.
Sabrina Mitchell |
