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In years past, onion farmers in Maharashtra used to protest against the abysmally low prices in November by dumping their produce on the streets; today the situation is quite the opposite.
Prices of the bulb in all major wholesale markets in Maharashtra have shot up due to a shortage in supply. Untimely rains late in October across all the major onion-growing areas in the State have led to massive crop damage. Good quality onions in markets across Nashik are being traded at ₹5,000-6,000 per quintal (100 kg).
The rally was best captured at the Lasalgaon onion mandi in Nashik, the most important market in the country for this staple in Indian homes. Lasalgaon sets the price trend for the entire country.
On Monday, trading data on the Agmarknet website showed that the modal price has spiked to ₹7,012 per quintal, an increase of 34 per cent over the modal price of ₹5,200 a fortnight ago (on November 11). The price was ₹3,900 per quintal on October 30. The area around Lasalgaon in Nashik is best suited for onion cultivation due to its soil, sunny summers and chilly winters. Irrigation is also a key factor.
Santosh Kalekar, an onion trader from Lasalgaon, said that over the last month, after rains hit the planted and just-harvested crop, arrivals have dipped drastically.
On Monday, arrivals are just 10-20 per cent of the usual volume.
The farmers are also in a great hurry to get rid of their damaged stocks, which have been attacked by fungus. In this market turmoil Fair Average Quality (FAQ) onions have been getting mixed with non-FAQ grade.
Onion farmer Vishnu Harak from Shivde Village in Junnar taluk, Nashik, said that the rains have been so devastating that in spite of transplanting the Rabi crop on three occasions, the crop has failed. It could create a major onion shortage in April 2020. The Kharif crop, which was harvested early in October has also suffered massive damage.
Jaydutt Holkar, former Chairman of the Lasalgaon APMC, said that arrivals in November usually are in the range of about 25,000 quintals a day, whereas on Monday they had not even crossed the 5,000-quintal mark.
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