Ad hoc steps must end

Interventions to contain onion prices would do more harm

A spike in the prices of onions around this time of the year has become almost an annual feature. Yet, little has been done to find a lasting solution to this menace. Ad hoc steps, such as blocking exports, incentivising imports, and capping the stocks allowed to be kept by traders, are routinely taken to soften the prices. These measures, being inherently pro-consumer and anti-producer, deter the farmers from raising onion production, thereby, perpetuating, rather than mitigating, price instability. The government has responded to the present onion crisis in almost a similar manner although the recent agri-marketing reforms virtually forbid