Onion price crash: State urged to provide MSP

There is a glut in production, says Agriculture Price Commission

With onion farmers in the State in distress following the crash in prices, the Agriculture Price Commission has recommended that the State government immediately take up market intervention by providing minimum support price (MSP).

“The commission held a meeting to take stock of the onion situation [owing to glut in production] on October 14. We also wrote to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on October 20 requesting him to immediately resort to market intervention,” commission Chairman T.N. Prakash Kammaradi told The Hindu . He said the commission had calculated the production cost of onion in the Chitradurga belt as Rs. 1,125 a quintal, taking various factors into consideration.

Stating that agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan had recommended that farmers should get an additional 50 per cent over the production cost, Dr. Kammaradi said that such aspects should be considered while finalising the MSP.

Pointing out that the State was expecting 15 lakh tonnes of onion this harvest season, Dr. Prakash suggested that the government consider procuring up to 1 lakh tonnes to bring about price stability.

The commission also wants the Centre to relax norms on export of onions.

“It will be possible to export 1 lakh tonnes of onions from Karnataka if the Centre relaxes the norms that state that exports can be undertaken only at a price of $300 a tonne. The amount should be reduced to $200 a tonne,” Dr. Prakash said. He also suggested that the State convince the Railway Ministry to provide a “green track” with special goods trains to transport onion from Karnataka to Kolkata from where goods are usually exported to different countries.

The commission also suggested popularising scientific methods to increase the shelf life of onions, such as solar energy-based drying mechanism and irradiation mechanism.

e-auction suggested

Other recommendations include bringing onion under the e-auction system to provide a wider market, and taking up the matter with the Union Commerce Ministry to set up an exclusive board for onion on the lines of boards for coffee and spices.