E-Paper
Centre in a pickle as measures to arrest rising onion prices fail in Pune, Nashik
Wholesale prices of good quality onions at Pune Agriculture Produce Market Committee reached Rs70 to Rs75 per kg on Thursday.
The Centre’s efforts to curb the surge in onion prices are seemingly having little to no effect on the ground as the rates remained high across the country, including Pune, throughout the week.
The wholesale prices of good quality onions on Thursday at the Pune Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) reached Rs70 to 75 per kg. The retail prices of onions touched Rs100 per kg across major metro cities in the country, including the city.
Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee in Nashik, which is the largest onion market in Asia, too hasn’t been immune to the volatility and wholesale onion prices reached upto Rs 80-Rs 85 per kg on Monday and Rs70 to Rs75 per kg on Thursday.
According to experts, onion prices will remain high till the arrival of new crop in January next year.
The Centre used various measures to stem the rise in prices, including banning onion export, stock holding of onion, and announcing it as an essential commodity. Earlier this month, there were searches carried out by the Income Tax officials on onion traders involved in export of the commodity. The Centre has also decided to import onions from Egypt and other countries.
However, none of the measures have been able to prevent onion price fluctuations over the past three months, as an estimated third of the crop in Maharashtra, the country’s largest cultivator of the commodity, has been damaged by untimely rains.
Former MP and Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana president Raju Shetti said, “It shows that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government does not have any knowledge of the agriculture sector and despite using all the tools, they failed to control the onion prices.”
Shetti said that the BJP government at the Centre may have been aware of the ground situation, but it has failed to prevent it from escalating. “The government’s outlook of the onion problem is wrong. The government, mainly the ministry of finance and consumer affairs, is taking steps in wrong direction,” said Shetti, whose outfit contested the recent assembly and Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra.
To bring down the spiralling prices, the government in the last week of September had increased the minimum export prices for onion from India to $850/tonne in order to check export. During that time the average wholesale onion price at Lasalgaon was Rs 2,500 per quintal. The subsequent rains in Maharashtra that damaged crops on a large scale and reduced supply of onion from neighbouring states of Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, further pushed the prices north.
According to the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) director Nanasaheb Patil, the government used traditional measures to control the onion prices. “When the central government’s team and officials visited Lasalgaon and other onion producing areas, we told them that the problem is related to demand and supply. The onion crop suffered huge damage first due to the delayed monsoon. Then, as there was no production, it was natural that the prices would be inflated,” said Patil.
While the prices went up drastically, farmers said that they did not drawn any benefit. Satish Pawar, a farmer from Satana taluka in Nashik district, said, “During the rains last month, the crop which was ready was harvest, was damaged. The crop in storage was damaged too. This is the situation with almost all the farmers. Though the prices of onions are reaching record high, we are not getting the benefit of it.”
Jaydutta Holkar, director of Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee, said, “The onion prices will continue to be inflated till the arrival of the new crop. The prices will not decrease suddenly. With the arrival of the new onion crop, markets will stabilise.”
Central government used following tools or measures to control onion prices
-Central government floated a tender this year to import onions from other countries. The onions from Egypt have already arrived in the country
- Government banned the export of onions and brought in limits on onion stock holding (imposing limits on how much onion traders can stock)
- Government increased the minimum export prices for onion export from India to $850/tonne.
- Ministry of Finance and Income tax department issued a circular to check the transactions of traders or agents from onion producing states in the last one year, and check whether they have withdrawn more than Rs1 crore cash in the last one year for the purpose of onion holding.
Government view
Food and consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Wednesday said an inter-ministerial panel led by home minister Amit Shah was monitoring the availability of onions and their price, which has touched Rs 100 again in key metros over the past week.
“The Cabinet secretary and a committee of secretaries are also keeping an eye on the situation and suitable policy interventions are being undertaken based on the deliberations,” he said.
