Govt sets up taskforce for onion policy

The government is keen on evolving an onion policy, following the impact this perishable commodity can have on political scenario of the country. Towards this, a taskforce has been set up, said a senior government official.

The taskforce is expected to work towards a scenario where shortage of onions can be avoided. The task would be looking into various issues including production vis-à-vis demand, yield, storage, and procurement.

"The government may even consider special warehousing for onion, keeping in mind its perishable nature," the official added.

The taskforce, set up under the leadership of the additional secretary (agriculture), is scheduled to have its first meeting on December 21.

Due to market sentiment of a current shortfall in supply, onion prices, especially at retail level, continue to remain high in most parts of the country, despite supplies exceeding demand at wholesale markets.

A possible reason for this move, traders feel, is speculation in the market that the crop from Maharashtra will take another fortnight to touch the market. However, the onion crop from Gujarat is likely to come by Monday, which may help keep prices down.

According to traders in Azadpur wholesale market, the market is flooded with onions from Alwar with the daily arrival over 150-160 tonne.

"We get a minimum of 12-15 trucks from Alwar but pick up from us, on year has seen a slowdown," said a trader.

"Prices in Delhi have artificially been kept high. The current situation is more to do with speculation than supply-demand mismatch," said Alok Ranjan, managing director, National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed).

Nafed was earlier selling onion at its outlets at Rs 12 per kg for as per the government's contingency plan to curb rising prices, Nafed has entered distribution of the commodity.

It is one of the few canalising agents for onion export-import and will be one of the members of the taskforce set up by the government to evolve an onion policy.

While there has been no shortfall in area coverage and production of onions in the country, heavy rains in Nashik had earlier delayed market arrivals. It led to crop damage and high humidity levels also caused spoilage in stored onion, thereby impacting the market availability.

India has three crops of onion in a year "� early kharif, late kharif and rabi. Total production of onions in 2004-05 is estimated around 59.42 lakh tonne, up from last year's 57 lakh tonne.

The early kharif from Maharashtra arrived early October, the late kharif crop of Rajasthan came in early November while the late kharif from Gujarat is expected early December and that of Maharashtra December-end. Rabi crop from Maharashtra and Rajasthan are expected around early March.