Gujarat monsoon crop to bring down onion prices

The monsoon onion crop from Mahuva in Bhavnagar district, Gujarat, is likely to ease the soaring prices of onion. The expected arrivals of around 4.5 lakh kg of red onions to the market over the next 10 days is likely to soften onion prices, which had gone up from Rs 150-175 per 20 kg to Rs 400 per 20 kg over the last fifteen days.

Fearing an acute shortage of onions in the country, the central government had banned onion exports for fifteen days recently.

Mahuva, the second biggest centre after Nasik for onions, produces around 25 to 26 lakh quintals of onions annually.

"We are expecting fresh arrivals of onions in the next 10 to 15 days. The expected quantity of onions is around 4.5 lakh tonnes. This is the first time the Mahuva farmers have gone for a monsoon onion crop," said R K Seta, secretary, Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC), Mahuva.

"The fresh arrival of onions from Mahuva is likely to ease the prices to Rs 360 per 20 kg. Ninety per cent of the onion output from Mahuva and Bhavnagar is supplied to states like Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, parts of UP and also to the southern states of the country," Seta said.

"We were expecting an acute shortage of onions this season. So we convinced the farmers on a monsoon onion crop. Around 450 to 500 hectares were brought under onions," he added.

Though the Mahuva APMC had warned the state agriculture department and the Department of Civil Supply about a likely shortage of onions from October to December this year, no steps were taken.

Mahuva, which produced 26.2 lakh quintals of onions last season, is likely to retain this figure this season and the Saurashtra region is likely to witness an increase of 10 per cent following the growth in area under onion cultivation.

Bhavnagar, meanwhile, produced around 12 to 13 lakh quintals of onion.

Around 25,000 hectares in the Saurashtra region, including 8,000 hectares in Mahuva, comes under onion cultivation annually.

The but the crop suffers from the lack cold storage facilities in the region.

"There is a shortage of cold storage facility in Saurashtra. There is not a single government cold storage facility in the region. There are a few private cold storages in Mahuva. If we have good storage facilities, Gujarat can play a major role in supplying onions," said, B K Kikani, vice chancellor, Junagadh Agriculture University.

The country produced about 60 lakh tonnes of onions in 2005-06. Maharashtra topped the list with 16 lakh tonnes in FY 2005-06 followed by Gujarat 9.8 lakh tonnes, Uttar Pradesh 5.6 lakh tonnes, Orissa 4.7 lakh tonnes, Karnataka 3 lakh tonnes and Tamil Nadu 2.5 lakh tonnes.