Onions will, no longer, bring tears to people’s eyes. Its prices throughout the country, especially in primary agricultural markets near cultivation areas, have crashed 30-40% over the last 10 days. Rabi crop is ready to arrive in the markets any day after March 15. This has made onion prices drop.
As per reports from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, the price at which most of the onion trading happened on March 2 was at Rs. 2,660 per quintal for the red onion variety. This was Rs. 4,000 per quintal on February 20.
The drop in prices may make common people happy, but will not help in exports. As per traders, orders have dropped. According to the Chairman of Nashik District Onion Traders, prices of onions can go as low as Rs. 1500 in the next few weeks.
There is also an issue of quality seeds. According to National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF), based in Nashik, growers have not sown quality seeds of onions. This would affect crop productivity.
According to traders, sharp drop in prices is compelling farmers to withhold the produce. In Maharashtra, the reason for crashing of onion prices is the glut of onions in the market. This has happened not only in Maharashtra, but also in Gujarat and other growing states.
