Onion prices soar to Rs 32 per kg due to post-monsoon rains
Times of India: The price of onions has increased by Rs 10 a kilo in city markets. This is due to the damage caused to the onion crop by post-monsoon rains that lashed many parts of the state over the last week. This has delayed the arrival of new crop in the market.
Malini Gadre, a housewife from Kasba Peth was one of many customers at the Mahatma Phule market to bargain hard with onion vendors who were selling onion at Rs 32 a kg on Wednesday evening. The post-monsoon rains have also affected the quality of stored onions in various onion storehouses and further reduced the supply of onions to the city-based agriculture produce market committee (APMC).
Gadre said, “I bought onions for Rs 15 to Rs 20 a kg a week ago. Today they are Rs 32 a kg in the retail market. There is need for government intervention in this matter, otherwise the common man will suffer.”
Speaking to TOI, Rajendra Korpe, a senior commission agent said, “Many farmers have stored onions in their storehouses which were being supplied to the APMC. The storehouses were damaged because of the cyclonic storm and the stored onions got partially wet. Pune’s APMC receives close to 1,000 tonnes of onions every day but the supply has come down to 500 tonnes in the last few days. Of the total supply, 70 per cent of onions are diverted to four states in south India. The Pune APMC also supplies onions to adjacent districts, which creates further pressure to meet the local demand for onions. The daily consumption of Pune is around 100 tonne.”
Korpe said that the onion sowed late during the kharif season, popularly known as new onion’, was expected to reach the market by now but the post-monsoon rains have delayed its arrival by a couple of weeks. “There is little possibility that the prices will come down in the next few days. Prices may come down in December as the onion supply from Bhavnagar market in Gujarat starts by then,” said Korpe.
Speaking to TOI on condition of anonymity, a senior officer from the horticulture department said, “The damage is divided in three parts, the damage caused to the nursery crops which were to be planted in the farm, the late kharif onion crop which was expected to reach the market and partial damage to the stored onions in the storehouses. The post-monsoon rains are expected to have caused damage to the fresh onion crop and the state agriculture department and revenue department are conducting surveys to assess the damage.”
The state government has scheduled a cabinet meeting on Thursday in Mumbai to assess the loss to various crops in the state due to the post-monsoon rains. The actual figures of loss and compensation will be declared at the meeting, the official said.
Nashik, Pune, Satara, Ahmednagar and parts of Solapur are the major onion-producing districts in the state. Onions are grown twice a year in the late kharif season and during summer. The total area under onion cultivation is 2.50 lakh hectares, with annual average production of about 39.52 lakh tonnes.
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