The Hindu Business Line : Farm-gate prices of small onions seen at Rs 820-850

Sliding prices
The increased acreage and higher yield tend to impact prices.
The farmers tend to go for immediate sale of crop to minimise storage losses and this leads to slide in price realisation.

Coimbatore , Sept. 10

The market intelligence cell of the Centre for Agricultural and Rural Development Studies (CARDS) of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University has said the farm-gate prices of small onions for the current late kharif crop (being sown now) would be in the Rs 820-850 (per quintal) band, as prevailing currently.

Cultivating area

The area under small onions in the Coimbatore region, comprising the two major cultivating zones of Udumalpet and Palladam, has increased this year by some 20 per cent at 10,000 hectares compared with the previous year. The sowing is also expected to continue till this month-end.

A press note from the CARDS said there has been a 30 per cent rise in the hybrid onion (CO.On.5) area this year and farmers have opted for higher hybrid crop due to advantages of higher yield and the non-seasonality factor for hybrids. But the increased acreage and higher yield tend to impact prices.

CARDS, citing inputs from traders, said as against the average storage losses of 20/30 per cent seen in the local onion varieties, the hybrid crops record higher percentage of storage losses, say up to 40 per cent due to the loose formation of scales that are less in numbers too. The farmers too tend to go for immediate sale of the crop to minimise storage losses and this often leads to slide in price realisation at the market, it said.

CARDS market intelligence cell members, who analysed the price data for the onion based on Dindigul market, one of the major marketing centres having a bearing on the overall prices of small onion in Tamil Nadu, said the average wholesale price of onion in Dindigul market during 2005 stood in the Rs 802 -806 band a quintal (during July and August 2005). During August 2006, the price remained slightly higher at Rs 950.

The wholesale onion price behaviour during July-September, when arrivals from neighbouring Andhra and Karnataka into Tamil Nadu coincide with local crop arrivals, tend to dip the price.

The CARDS market intelligence team has advised onion farmers to reduce cultivation cost and use of improved storage methods to maximise price recovery.

More Stories on : Horticulture/Fruits & Vegetables | Cultivation

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