At Rs 32 per kg, onions bring tears to everbody’s eyes

Nashik: Onion prices rose by Rs 7 per kg in the wholesale onion markets in Nashik reaching Rs 32.25 per kg as compared to Rs 25.51 per kg last week. Market experts predicted that the prices may rise further due to late harvests of new onion.

Continuous rainfall, wet soil and low sunlight have delayed the harvest of new red onions by nearly a month, said Chandwad Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) chairman Dr Atmaram Kumbharde. He also predicted that onion wholesale price might touch Rs 40 to Rs 50 per kg soon.

“The wet soil has already affected the crop, and some quantity has begun rotting. This means that the new harvest too will be less by around 50 percent. Hence, even if the new crop comes into the market in a month, prices may rise,” Dr Kumbharde said.

Moreover, the existing stocks of the stored ‘unhal’ variety are getting exhausted due to spoilage. This ‘unhal’ crop has been harvested in March this year. The new red variety onion does not have storage life and deteriorates within a fortnight compared to ‘unhal’ variety which has a shelf life of nearly ten months.

Farmer Ashokrao Kapase from Niphad said that very little amount of onions are remaining with the farmers. “Most of the stock was finished while rain spoiled the remaining crop. Secondly, farmers did not get their expected cost price because the government recently conducted checks on traders. The traders got scared and refused to purchase onion, so rates fell last month,” he said.