MM News

NEW DELHI: Onion prices have crashed in markets across India as farmers are being offered Rs 7.50 to 9 per kilo by market traders.

According to multiple Indian media reports, Onion farmers are crying foul as they suffer huge losses. The peasants complain that when they reach the market yard with their crops, prices crash and there is no mechanism to support them.

A farmer, identified as Jitendra Gohil from Mahuva taluka, Bhavnagar, told media that traders in the market were offering Rs 7.50 to 9 per kilo for onion, whereas the production cost was almost double. Gohil, who had sown onion on five acres land, fears to make loss of about Rs 1 lakh.

Indian media quoted Ghanshyam Patel, Chairman of Mahuva Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) as saying “prices in the domestic market have fallen for two reasons, the late Kharif crop harvest is brought in large quantities in the market- against the demand the supply is very high. The other reason is that this year even Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are expecting high production, so this time they may import less quantity from Gujarat, that too is creating pressure on price in the Gujarat market.”

Maharashtra’s Lasalgaon is known as the onion capital of India, while Mahuva is called the capital of

Gujarat in terms of onion production. Farmers of Bhavnagar district sow onion in the highest quantity in the state.

According to the Agriculture Department’s data, onions were cultivated in the Bhavnagar district on 34,000 hectares in 2020-21, while the area increased in 2021-22 as onion was sown on 34,366 hectares in the district.

Overall cultivation in Gujarat state in 2020-21 was 67,736 hectares which increased to 99,413 hectares in 2021-22.