Following the crash in onion price, the State government has proposed to provide compensation of Rs. 9,000 a hectare to growers in the four districts of Chitradurga, Davangere, Gadag and Dharwad.
Several factors have been attributed to the price crash, including heavy arrivals in the market, and poor quality of onion because of high moisture content following rain. In Chitradurga market, onion price was around Rs. 100 to Rs. 150 a quintal.
Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs T.B. Jayachandra, who heads a Cabinet sub-committee on commodity prices, told presspersons here on Friday that onion crop was damaged owing to heavy rain and markets received inferior quality produce. According to the National Disaster Response Funds norms, compensation had been fixed at Rs. 4,500 a hectare. The State government had proposed to pay an additional compensation of Rs. 4,500 a hectare to growers, he said.
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Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had approved the proposal to pay Rs. 9,000 a hectare, the Minister said.
Onion was cultivated in 85,046 hectares of land in the four districts and the expected production was over 10 lakh tonnes.
In 2011-12, when there was a glut in onion production, the government procured the commodity but incurred a loss of Rs. 45 crore because it was of inferior quality.
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Mr. Jayachandra said the Centre had been urged to allow the government to procure maize from growers. The Centre has banned procurement for the next two months. Owing to increased production and pressure from farmers’ organisations, the government had proposed to procure maize at Rs. 1,350 a quintal, he said.