Small onions farmers grieves on steep slide in prices

Due to steep slide in onions price, farmers, mainly those engaged in cultivation of small onions are peeling tears. The steep fall in price level has been attributed to a significant increase in crop area and production. The Domestic and Export Market Intelligence Cell (DEMIC) functioning in the Centre for Agricultural and Rural Studies at TNAU analyzed the crop price movement based on the prices that prevailed in the Dindigul market.

Meanwhile, the small onion prices dropped from Rs 20 a kg a year ago to around Rs 7-11 a kg at present. Good crop productivity coupled with a 30 percent increase in the area under small onion has resulted in a sharp decline in the price levels. The trend further revealed that the best quality produce would sell at around Rs 9-12 a kg while the rest between Rs 7 and Rs 9 a kg from April to July.

While indicating an improvement in the price levels from July, experts advised the farmers against storing the produce now, considering the storage loss, cost of storage and other incidentals. Since storage will not yield higher net prices, farmers are recommended to sell small onion upon harvest.

Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are the three major small onion producing States in the country. The price of the produce is benchmarked based on the arrivals from Karnataka. According to National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation, the area and production of onion in Tamil Nadu in 2010-2011 were 33,800 ha and 3,38,900 tonnes respectively, wherein over 70 per cent of the area is under small onion.