Due to its skyrocketing price, tomato has gone far away from the reach of the general public. Many people have stopped bringing tomatoes to their homes. Now there is a possibility of increase in the price of onion. In the past, it was seen that farmers were leaving onions in the fields or throwing them on the road due to not getting fair price. They said that even after taking onions to the market, They are not making any profit but is facing loss. Well, now a huge increase is being seen in the price of onions. The wholesale price of onion has increased by 48 per cent in the Lasalgaon vegetable market in Maharashtra’s Nashik district. It is the country’s largest wholesale market for onions. On August 4, the price of one quintal onion in Lasalgaon was Rs.1550. Whereas last Friday i.e. yesterday the price of onion was Rs.2300 per quintal. This is the highest wholesale market price in the last eight months.
In the month of December last year, the wholesale price of onion was Rs.2311. Onion wholesaler Sagar Jain says that this increase has been seen due to increase in demand in the domestic market. The supply is very less compared to the demand. Apart from this, the demand for exports has also increased. On the other hand, due to rains in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, onion planting has been delayed by a month. The arrival of onion has also decreased in Ahmednagar of Maharashtra. Due to which the price of onion has increased.
Onion prices have increased because there has been a huge decline in the arrival of onions in Lasalgaon. Earlier, 20 thousand to 25 thousand quintals of onion used to come here in a day but now it has reduced to 15 quintals. In fact, farmers are currently busy planting Kharif crops. That’s why they are unable to bring onions to the market. Apart from this, due to the delay in onion crop in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, the demand for onion has increased in South India as well, hence the prices have increased.
The government has announced the release of onions from its ‘buffer stock’ to the target areas. This step has been taken with the aim of keeping the prices under control before the arrival of new crop from October. The government is exploring various options to release onions from the buffer stock. These include sale at subsidized rates through e-auction, e-commerce as well as through states, their consumer co-operatives and corporations and retail outlets. The government has kept three lakh tonnes of onions under the Price Stabilization Fund (PSF) to deal with any emergency.