With kharif crop expected to arrive in the markets by Diwali and prices touching a new low at Lasalgaon in Nashik ? the country’s onion hub ? farmers in Maharashtra are in a hurry to get rid of their existing stocks. Arrivals at Lasalgaon touched 12,500 quintal on Tuesday with the minimum price at Rs 200 and maximum of Rs 1,585 and modal prices averaging at Rs 1,125 per quintal.
“This is the last stage before the Kharif crop arrives in the market.This year, September has seen the highest amount of arrivals. Last year, only 55,000 quintal onion was sold at a price averaging Rs 3,000 per quintal against 2.5 lakh quintals with prices averaging at Rs 1,500 per quintal a year earlier. Prices have reduced and farmers have experienced four times the loss this year,” Nanasaheb Patil, Lasalgaon APMC chairman, told FE.
“Onion prices had peaked in June when delayed monsoon rainfalls threatened its sowing this kharif season. Stored onion got wet in the monsoon, which has reduced its shelf life. Also, exporters shied away from fresh purchases due to a huge spoilage potential,” he explained.
RP Gupta, National Horticulture Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF) director, agrees and says farmers in Maharashra have been forced to bring out their stored produce fearing the stock may rot. ?Farmers had held on to their stocks since June in the hope that prices will rise like last year. However, the stored onion got wet in the rains, which has reduced its shelf life and when they realised there was no chance of of a price rise, they began to bring out their stocks,? he explained.
“Also, since the quality of onions is poor, prices are also falling. Exporters are also not coming to main markets in Lasalgaon and Pimpalgaon because of fresh arrivals coming from the Bangalore market. This onion can be transported far while onions from Maharashtra cannot be transported to long distances,” he pointed out. “This situation is restricted to Maharashtra because of a delay in sowing. Although sowing started with a delay of a month, resulting in proportionate delay in harvesting, its price remained low thanks to the government intervention,” Gupta said.
When onion prices started soaring towards June-end and hit Rs 40-44 a kg in the wholesale mandis and Rs 60 in retail markets, the government brought the commodity under the Essential Commodity Act. The Act restricts farmers and stockists to hold beyond a certain quantity. Also, the government threatened hoarders with stern action in case of violation of this Act and conducted raids to prevent onions from being hoarded. Consequently, farmers started releasing onion gradually. Also, they did not preserve the vegetable supplement for future sale. Rainfalls during the season damaged the stockpile with huge moisture content. At present, the total stock comes upto around 7-8 lakh quintals, which is now coming into the market. On the other hand, fresh arrivals in Karnataka mandis is around 40,000 to 50,000 quintals a day. In contrast, arrivals at Lasalgaon are reducing to around 12,000 quintals a day. These onions can only meet local requirements and therefore prices are low, Patil said.
Falling onion prices could become major poll issues in Maharashtra in the coming Assembly polls. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has squarely blamed the Modi government for the falling onion prices and for causing hardships to onion growers, while the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS), has threatened of serious political implications during the Assembly election if the Centre fails to immediately act. Shetti has met Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan and food and consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan last week in Delhi seeking remedial measures. Total onion production in kharif season is estimated to be 4.5-5 million tonne. Last year, India?s overall onion output was 19.5 million tonne.