After a glut of onions, a scarcity in offing

After a glut of onions, a scarcity in offing
RAKSHIT SONAWANE

NASHIK, AUG 28: After a glut of onions last season, when the Maharashtra Government had bought the commodity at higher than the market prices to provide relief to farmers, a shortfall in onion production during the current kharif season is in the offing, owing to erratic rainfall.

According to estimates by agricultural officials, there is likely to be a shortfall of 30 per cent in the kharif onion harvest, due to a prolonged dry spell of over three weeks and an erratic rainfall, thereafter. In several onion-growing pockets, seeds sown could not germinate due to the dry spell and resowing had to be undertaken.

The resown seeds are now subjected to the vagaries of nature as most of the kharif onions are grown by small and marginal farmers who depend on the monsoon and have no irrigation facilities. Officials point out that due to the resowing of seeds the harvest would be delayed. The old rabi stocks would not last beyond November and in the lean period, there might be a scarcity. The kharif crop from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu would start arriving in November, but its volume may not meet the demand.

In the Nashik region, the normal area under onion cultivation is around 15,000 hectares, which has reduced by about 20 per cent this kharif season as farmers, who had faced the onion-glut last season, preferred to restrict the area.

Further, the restrictions on the export of the commodity continues even as the rabi onions harvested in April-May are available in abundance. Under normal circumstances, the stocks of rabi onions (which can be stored upto six months) harvested in April-May start depleting from November. The harvesting of the kharif onions in November ensures the unhampered supply of the commodity till the next (late kharif) crop is harvested in January.

The kharif (Pol variety) onions are highly perishable and cannot be stored beyond six weeks, while the late kharif (Rangda variety) onions start decaying within three months. Hence, the shortfall in kharif or late kharif production breaks the chain of round the year supply of onions leading to scarcity and skyrocketing of prices.

The commodity is grown thrice (kharif, late kharif and rabi seasons) only in Maharashtra and Gujarat. It may be recalled that the failure of the kharif crop due to adverse weather conditions in 1997-98 had led to a scarcity and increase in prices to an alltime high of upto Rs 4,000 per quintal.

The Centre had banned onion exports, then. The onion production of the country had dipped from the usual 42 lakh tonnes to around 34 lakh tonnes, in 1997-98. However, last year, a bumper harvest boosted the onion production to a record high of over 50 lakh tonnes. Consequently, the prices dipped below Rs 200 per quintal. The Maharashtra government then bought about 34 lakh quintals of onions from the Nashik region and about 23 lakh quintals of onions from the Pune region at higher than the market prices.

While the open market prices were below Rs 200 per quintal, the government bought onions for Rs 300 and Rs 350 per quintal to provide relief to farmers. In the process, the government lost about Rs 110 crore.

The onions bought by the government through the Maharashtra State Cooperative Marketing Federation Limited could neither be distributed through the public distribution system (as overheads led to an increase in their retail price to Rs 5 per kilo when the same commodity was available at a much cheaper price in the open market) nor exported, due to the restrictions on exports and loss of clientele by exporters in overseas markets, where Pakistani growers dominated. The government, ultimately had to dump about 2.5 lakh quintals of rotting onions.

Maharashtra tops in onion production in the country, growing the commodity thrice a year, ensuring round the year supply. Out of the annual national yield of about 42 lakh tonnes, Maharashtra produces over 14 lakh tonnes.