Onion sowing set to gain pace as monsoon gathers pace in Karnataka, Maharashtra

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Onion patches were seen in Khareef, which was lagging behind until last week, with major growing areas of Karnataka and Maharashtra starting to receive rain over the past few days. Delays in planting in some areas of Karnataka are likely to push back the harvest to September and October, which could lead to firm prices in the coming days.

At Lasalgaon, Asia’s largest market for onions, the typical price (the rate at which most deals are done) has risen from $800 per quintal in early June to the current level of 1,350 rupees. About 20,000 quintals of onions arrived on Thursday.

According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, onions were sown on 0.32 thousand hectares as of July 14, compared to 0.36 liters last year. The target for planting onions this fall season is 3.41 liters compared to the total planted area of ​​3.29 liters last year.

In the areas of central Karnataka – Chitradurga district and Chikmagalur plain areas – sowing has spread recently. So far, officials said, 13,000 hectares have been covered in Chitradurga, compared to a target of 26,000 hectares. With the rains, the goal is likely to be achieved as the sowing will continue until mid-August.

A trader in Hubali said sowing had picked up in recent days across major districts in North Karnataka and in Kurnool in Andhra. “The size of the crop will depend on the rainfall in the coming months,” he said. Heavy rains during the harvest period in August and September affected the onion yield in recent years. He said the prices of onions in Hubballi mandi have been stable between $15 and $20 per kg over the past month.

Rainfall to aid sowing

Over the past two days, the onion growing areas in Maharashtra have also been hit by rain, which may help in sowing. Due to the lack of rain, about 74 percent of Khareef’s lands are cultivated, compared to 83 percent in the same period last year.

Farmers are seeing shortages due to late fall sowing and damage to the spring crop stored in Scholl. Khareef onions will arrive late in the market and Scholl’s Rabi stock has been damaged. I sold my produce a few days ago at $9 per kg as it was spoiled,” says onion farmer Shailesh Patel from Jalgaon. He said many farmers in the area have switched to other crops as onion prices were not up to their expectations in the past three seasons. This trend will put more pressure on the market supply. There may be a shortage of onions in September and October.

The farmers expected that the lack of onion seeds in the market may further affect the supply chain. Traders in Lasalgaon said that although Nafed is stockpiling onions, the quality will be affected as the storage facilities are not good enough to protect the product from moisture.

Nafed bought about 3 tonnes of onions for reserve stock, about 20 percent more than last year, and called for a tender from carriers to ship the bulbs from various production areas in Maharashtra.