Team Blitz India
AS the rabi harvest starts arriving in the market, the Government has directed National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF) to initiate procurement of 5 lakh tonne of onion for the buffer requirement directly from farmers. For the procurement, the two agencies are to pre-register onion farmers to ensure that payments are transferred to their bank accounts through Direct Benefit Transfer.
Rabi onion is critical for this crop’s availability as it contributes 72 -75 per cent of annual production in the country. Rabi onion is also crucial for ensuring year-round availability of this key cooking ingredient as it has better shelf life compared to kharif onion and can be stored for supplies till November-December.
It may be recalled that the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) had, through Nafed and NCCF, purchased about 6.4 lakh metric tonne (lmt) of onion during 2023-24 for buffer stocking as well as intervention by way of simultaneous procurement and disposal. Continuous procurements by the two agencies had guaranteed remunerative prices for onion farmers throughout the year in 2023.
Subsequently, DCA had sold onion through retail outlets and mobile vans operated by NCCF, Nafed, Kendriya Bhandar and other state controlled cooperatives at subsidised price of Rs 25 per kg last year. The timely intervention and calibrated release had ensured stabilisation of retail prices effectively without impacting farmer realisation.
Global supply scenario and dry spell induced by El Niño has necessitated the Government to take measures to regulate onion exports during FY 2023-24. These measures include 40 per cent duty on onion exports imposed on August 19, 2023, imposition of minimum export price (MEP) of USD 800 per mt from October 29, 2023 and export prohibition from December 8, 2023 to ensure availability of onion to the domestic consumers at affordable prices.
The recent decision to extend onion export prohibition has been necessitated by the overall domestic availability against prevailing international prices and global availability concerns. The Government, meanwhile, has allowed exports to neighbouring countries that rely on India for their domestic consumption requirements. The Government has allowed the export of onion to Bhutan (550 mt), Bahrain (3,000 mt), Mauritius (1,200 mt), Bangladesh (50,000 mt) and UAE (14,400 mt).
