Onions bring tears to cultivators' eyes
- Usually, onions of high quality fetch ₹1000/- a quintal, and medium varieties are sold at ₹500/ to ₹600/- per quintal.
- In some parts of Karnataka, wholesallers are buying them for as low as ₹100/- per quintal
- Customers are still paying much higher rates for the vegetable in city markets
FollowPrices of onions in wholesale markets have crashed, creating an enormous financial sink for cultivators.
Six months ago, the onions which had sold at ₹100 a kilo, bringing tears in the eyes of customers, have now spelt doom for farmers who grew them. Most of them are now unable to make up even the cost of producing them.
Tayappa Bijanagera, a farmer, belonging to Bijanagera village of Raichur taluk in Karnataka, had grown 26 quintals of onions by availing a loan of ₹3 lakh. But in the market, the produce price ultimately spelt doom for him and his family.
He eventually reluctantly sold 16 quintals of onions for a mere ₹160 per quintal (One quintal is equal to 100 kilograms).
As the wholesale merchants and brokers further negotiated for ₹100/- per quintal for the rest of the stock he had, a disgusted Tayappa took his remaining stock of onions and dumped them in front of the District Collector's office in protest.
Usually, onions of high quality fetch ₹1000/- a quintal, and medium varieties are sold at ₹500/ to ₹600/- per quintal.
"I am in utter confusion as to how to cope with this situation. Instead of selling at such rock bottom prices, I shall distribute the lot to the poor in the locality," Tayappa said.
This is not the case of Tayappa alone, but also the case with lots of other farmers who grew onion in anticipation of good rates.
"We do dealings with farmers based on mutual trust, and transactions are not done under any legal framework. This year, the state has seen an abundant crop of onions and less demand and therefore the farmers are facing a problem with prices," said M Govinda, President, Kempegowda Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMC) Merchants’ Association.
Across India, onions have been a bumper crop, leading to massive excess amounts of the vegetable flooding markets. In Karnataka, the situation is no different. Earlier, onions were exported to other states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. However, now even those regions have begun growing onions, adding to the large crops in Karnataka.
So not only are the onions no longer exported, but rather, they are now being imported into the state. Also, the government does not have a 'supportive' fixed price for the vegetable.
All of these factors led to excess supply and a subsequent slump in demand - which led to a price crash.
Farmers’ Associations insist the state government should declare a 'support price' scientifically and lend a helping hand to cultivators.
