More government sops to check fall of onion prices

Railways agrees to provide additional rakes for next 2 weeks.

The railway authorities have agreed to provide more rakes for transportation of onion from the state to markets across the country. This was announced by Maharshtra Agriculture Minister Harshwardhan Patil at a press conference here on Thursday.

One of the main reason behind the sharp fall in prices of onion in Nashik, a major producing district in the country, was the non-availability of rakes. 
 

ON THE SLIDE Onion price (Rs per quintal)
APMC	Oct 1, '07	Dec 3, '07	Jan 3 '08	% chg*
Lasalgaon	1,851	615	331	-46.17
Pimpalgaon	1,851	581	271	-53.35
Yeola	1,750	475	255	-46.31
Nashik	1,500	500	300	-40.00
*% Change between Dec 3, 2007 and January 3, 2008 Note: Wholesale prices at APMCs in Nashik district

The railways provided two extra rakes on Thursday Itself, and agreed to make available four additional rakes every day for the next two weeks, the minister said.

According to Patil, the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Thursday met Railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and asked him to change the freight rates for onion.

Due to its large volume, only 40 tonnes of onions can be loaded in a 65-tonne wagon, thus making transportation of the commodity costlier, leading to higher prices.

Besides, Patil said, the state government had asked the railways to put onion in category B instead of category D, so that more rakes and wagons could be made available for transportation of onions.

Replying to a question Patil said, the state government was considering to give compensation to farmers for the loss they had incurred due to the sharp fall in prices.

He said that a decision on whether the compensation was to be evaluated on per hectare basis or per tonne basis would be finalised in a fortnight. Patil said that the state government aimed at creating nearly 100,000 tonnes of storage capacity by May-end.

The Central government has recently reduced the minimum export price (MEP)of onion by $50 a tonne to $200, so as to make exports more competitive in the global market and thus arresting the fall in domestic prices.