As prices soar, U.P. mulls selling onion at wholesale rate
Onions will be sold from mandis in all districts and each person could buy up to 1 kg at the whole sale rate
Amid soaring prices due to low import of onion from outside Uttar Pradesh (U.P.), the State Agricultural Produce Markets Board (Mandi Parishad) is considering selling the versatile staple from its mandis at the wholesale rate to provide relief to consumers.
“We are keeping an eye on the situation. If the price keeps on soaring, we will soon arrange sale of onion from mandis in all the districts up to 1 kg per person at the whole sale rate,” director, Mandi Parishad, Anjani Kumar Singh told the HT.
Singh said there existed a wide gap between the wholesale and the retail rates of onion in the state. “The wholesale price of onion in our mandis on Wednesday was reported to be only Rs-40-50 per kg but they double by the time the staple reaches vegetable vendors and shops,” he pointed out.
The current situation in U.P. where onion prices have suddenly shot up and almost doubled in the last one week is being attributed to curtailed imports from other states where erratic rains affected production.
“November-December is generally a lean season when stocks of the Rabi onion harvested in Apri-May in the state get exhausted and the supply of Kharif onion starts arriving from other states, primarily Maharashtra and Madya Pradesh,” deputy director, horticulture VB Dwivedi said.
“This year, the arrival of onion from Maharashtra and MP has been disrupted because of erratic monsoon having affected onion production there. The situation may improve as imports increase in days to come,” he added. U.P. produces less than 40% of its total consumption requirement of onion that is cultivates on an area of 29940 hectares of land, producing only around 5 lakh MT of onion annually against the yearly requirement of 13 lakh MT.
The deficit is made up by procurement from other states like Maharashtra, MP and Andhra Pradesh.
“Most of the onion in U.P. is cultivated and harvested in Rabi season in April-May. Only around 90,000 MT of onion is produced in Kharif season in November in U.P. and Kharif onion has to be imported from other states.” Dwivedi said.