The bumper crop of small onions - Aggregatum Allium cepa variety (known locally as `podisu-sambar onion) especially in Dindigul has forced the traders to do panic selling at rates ranging between Rs 1.50 and Rs 3.00 per kg.

Recently, the Tamil Nadu government had asked centre's permission to allow export of the smaller variety to countries like Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore where it was in demand. At present, the state has got a surplus of 1.8 lakh tonne of this vegetable.

The state agriculture minister, S Veerapandi Arumugham recently told representatives of farmers' association that the demand of the state was only for 1.2 lakh tonne but it produced 3 lakh tonnes this year.

According to an exporter in Chennai, export of this variety of small onions have to be allowed in order to offset the loss sustained bythe growers who had doubled their cultivation anticipating higher rates this year (following the steep rise in prices sometime last year).

The cost of production of this variety of onion which on an average normally has five to six bublets per cluster would range between Rs 4.50 and Rs 5.50 per kg. So the loss faced by all the farmers would work out to around Rs 14,000 per acre.

Earlier when there was no ban on onion export the demand for onions from countries like Singapore, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia and Gulf countries was always on the rise, this variety (podisu) alone had a demand for 2000 to 2500 tonnes per month. The rates realised by the exporters during that season was on an average $ 350 per container of 10 tonnes.

Normally for the purpose of exports the rates paid to the farmers by the exporters ranges between Rs 7.50 and Rs 9.50 per kg, he said.

According to horticulture department official, the overall production level of all the varieties of onion (small and big) in Tamil Naduhad always been on the rise. During the year 1996-97, farmers had produced about 2.1 lakh tonnes on 24,866 hectares of land. Further for the year 1998-99 (provisional figure) farmers had used 33,240 hectares of land and the yield was 3.66 lakh tonnes.

This year farmers are not expected to cultivate more of onions because of existing stocks, the official said.