The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) has begun procurement of onions from Lasalgaon, the country’s largest wholesale market. Nafed is to procure some 50,000 tonne onions, which includes 45,000 tonne from Maharashtra and 5,000 tonne from Gujarat. This is expected to be Nafed’s largest procurement from Maharashtra, so far.
Some 250 quintals of onions were procured at an average rate of Rs 1,037 per quintal on Tuesday. The procurement is being made under the Centre’s Price Stability Fund (PSF) to keep prices stable and tackle scarcity of onions at a later stage. Onion scarcity usually occurs between July and October. A large section of onion farmers had suffered huge losses last year due to price fall. The government announced a compensation package to make up for their losses.
Confirming the development, Jaydutt Holkar, chairman, Lasalgaon Agricutlure Produce Market Committee ( APMC), said that onions are being procured by Nafed as per availability of storage space. The purchase started a couple of days ago, he said. Nafed’s procurement is expected to bring good prices since onion farmers have been in distress, thanks to a good crop and large arrivals in the market. Nafed’s procurement is expected to pick up pace from next week and should continue for another three months, officials of the market committee said. The Centre has allocated `900 crore towards the PSF.
Modal onion prices at Lasalgaon were `871 per quintal on Tuesday with maximum prices reported at `1,021 per quintal and minimum prices at `600 per quintal. Some 11,500 quintals of onion arrivals were reported on Tuesday. Wednesday and Friday would be holiday for the market and purchases are expected to pick up from next week.
Apart from Lasalgaon, Nafed would soon start onion procurement from other markets like Pimpalgaon and Kalwan. Last season, Nafed had procured 13,500 tonne onions from Nashik, Ahamednagar and Pune districts.