Govt. finds it difficult to manage fluctuations in prices
Image Courtesy: TOI
Pyaaz, Mirch, Bhakri, the sustenance of India’s toiling agrarian class. A raw onion, a green chilly and a Bhakri (bhākri, bhakkari) is a round flat unleavened bread often used in the cuisine of the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Goa. But with the unchecked crisis in the agrarian economy, this basic and nutritious vegetable is denied to millions.
September 2019, as the prices of this most essential commodity, an important ingredient of almost every Indian meal, onions touched sky rocketing prices, a bizarre incident of theft of onions worth Rs. 1 lakh in Nashik district of Maharashtra also added a touch of black humour to an unfolding crisis. The retail prices of onion prices have touched as high as Rs. 60-80 per kg mark in cities such as Delhi and Mumbai. Even in Chennai the prices are around Rs. 60 per kg.
In the midst of this, onion farmer Rahul Bajirao Pagar approached the Nashik police on Monday and informed that he had kept a ‘summer stock’ of 25 tonne onions in 117 plastic crates at his storehouse in Kalwan taluka, as per police inspector Pramod Wagh.
However, on Sunday evening, to his utter dismay, he found that the entire stock worth nearly Rs. 1 lakh was missing, Pagar said in his complaint. Inspector Wagh said that based on his complaint a case of theft has been registered and search is on.
At the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) in Nashik, the summer onion stocks are being auctioned for around Rs. 3,500 to Rs. 5,000 per quintal (per 100 kg), as per a source.
Meanwhile in another incident, some unidentified persons allegedly mixed urea (fertiliser) in the onion stock of farmer Vishnu Aher in Bhaur village, an official at Devla police station said. The farmer in his complaint alleged that the mischief resulted in rotting of about 120 tonnes of his onions worth Rs 5 lakh, he said.
Not only has the price rise added to a common person’s burden, but also has shown the gaps in the management of such essential commodities by the government. The government, in order to curtail prices, issued tenders to import onion from Pakistan. This decisions has been opposed by farmers.
Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections are weeks away, just around the corner, even as the states were grappling with other problems such as the floods in Maharashtra, this onion crisis has posed several challenges for masses of our people.
The recent rise in onion prices has been a result of last year’s drought and a delayed monsoon this year. The situation is exacerbated by excessive rainfall in onion-growing areas, which has delayed the harvest period by a week or so.
About 90 percent of India’s onion comes from the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. Of this, Maharashtra contributes to nearly one-third of the country’s production of the vegetable.Nashik, Pune, Ahmednagar, and Aurangabad form the onion-growing belt of Maharashtra.
The onion crop is grown in three phases throughout the year, -Kharif (which is sown in May-July and harvested in October-December); late kharif (which is sown in August-September and harvested in January-March); and Rabi (which is sown in October-November and harvested in April).
To prevent the crop form sprouting and getting spoilt, farmers usually store their onion produce in moisture-proof and dust-proof structures, called kanda chawl. They release their produce steadily depending on the price of onion in the market, which enables continuous supply.
This year, the cultivation of onion in the rabi crop cycle decreased in Maharashtra – from 3.54 lakh hectares in 2017-18 to 2.66 lakh hectares in 2018-19.
As if this wasn’t enough, Karnataka received unprecedented and heavy rainfall during the harvest period of the onion grown in kharif season. In addition, the arrival of kharif onions from Karnataka has been delayed after the state was lashed with heavy rains a couple of weeks ago.
While markets saw the arrival of 35,000 quintals per day in September last year, the amount has dropped to 25,000 quintals this year. The new batch of kharif onion crop grown in Maharashtra would not hit the market before the end of October this year. Until then, the stored rabi crop will be supplied to the market.
Currently, the Centre has a buffer stock of 56,000 tonnes of onion, of which 16,000 tonnes has been offloaded so far. In Delhi, 200 tonnes a day is being offloaded, news agency PTI reported.However, most worrying is the fluctuation that this commodity’s prices face in the market. For example, just this February the onion prices kept plummeting to an all time low. This caused a serious distress among farmers, so much so that many committed suicides.
In 2018, Maharashtra faced an oversupply of the kitchen staple due to excessive holding of kharif onions or Gavthi onions, which have a longer shelf-life and usually arrive by March. That year, there was a massive storage of such onions. Farmers retained their stock for over six months in the expectation that prices would rise. But they never did, and by December, panic-stricken farmers literally dumped the onions.
History of onion cultivation
Interestingly, onions are one of the oldest cultivated vegetables in human history. Although most scientists agree that onion cultivation started around 5000 BC in Asia, some believe that it was Central Asia that pioneered this, while other believe that it originated from Iran and West Pakistan. Archeological evidence shows that onions were planted by ancient Egyptians about two thousands year later.
Onions grow easily and are easy to plant! That is the reason why onions were among the first vegetables to be consumed and domesticated.
They can grow in multitude of soils and climates. They are less perishable than other vegetables and can be dried and stored for long periods as well as consumed when food is scarce.
In addition to their culinary use, onions are cherished for their antiseptic and medicinal use. Ancient Egyptians used onions in art and mummification and buried their Pharaohs with onions. Onions were cultivated and used by other civilizations like the Chinese (5000 years ago), the Sumerians (2500 BC), the Babylonians, the Greek, the Romans, and among ancient Indians.