Will onion bring tears into the eyes of common people during this festive season?

By Eugene Moodubelle
Bellevision Media Network

20 December 2010: Onion, the ‘King of Vegetables’ and an indispensible ingredient of Indian cuisine and even common preparations as vegetables, curries and salads has become elusive in the market and whatever has been available is of mediocre quality that too for a high price that consumers had never thought that they would pay even in their dreams.

 

 

With continuous unseasonal rains the onion crop has been damaged in many regions that have been known to grow onions. Besides, whatever could have been harvested have been damaged due to the rain and lack of drying facilities. Onion is one of the most easily perishable commodity and even slightest damage to onion sets in the process by which it easily gets rotten giving out foul smell. Besides the increase in petroleum price has increased the cost of transporting whatever available onion to the wholesale market thus adding burden to already soaring onion price due to scarcity.

 

Since   few moths the onion price has been on the upward swing and have seen a record hike at this time of the year and the middle-class seem to be the most affected by this shocker of a news. The hike is reflected in all cities, towns and even villages, one newspaper reporting that the onion price has reached Rs.67/- per one kilogram.

 

With Christmas season being around the corner and parish feasts to follow and marriage season being in full swing, there is an apprehension among the common people that the otherwise friendly onion might bring tears into their eyes and sink a deeper hole into their pockets. Sarcastically people say that by the beginning of the new year, the price of one kilogram of onion my surpass the price of chicken or pork.

 

 

According to reports, a worried government has decided on Monday, 20th December 2010 to suspend onion exports till 15th January 2011 in the wake of skyrocketing prices of the commodity which is selling between Rs 60-70 a kilogram. Agriculture cooperative major National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED), a regulating agency, has been asked to stop giving fresh clearance to exporters. The government has also made exports almost impossible for those who are already in possession of ’no objection certificate’ (NOC) given by the NAFED and 12 other agencies.

 

However, the government could have been on guard when it had realised that the onion crop had perished due to incessant rains and could have banned export earlier so that the supply of onion to Indian markets could have been reasonably maintained and the price could have been reined in.  It is hoped that with rains receding new onion crop from Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan might ease the situation and once the common mans friendly ‘vegetable’ may bring smile on their face rather than tears.