Chinese, Egyptian onions to the rescue

In a bid to check the soaring onion prices, the United Progressive Alliance government would soon import the vegetable bulbs from China or Egypt, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said Wednesday.

The imports would be channelised through the state-run National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed), the minister said.

"We will authorise Nafed to import onions from China or Egypt where prices are lower if domestic prices remain high," Pawar told reporters on the margins of a farm meet.

As an apex body, Nafed promotes trade of farm produce and forest resources across the country, besides procuring agri-products.

"As there are ample stocks of onions in China and Egypt, we will take action early. The imported price is $500 per tonne as against $900 per tonne in the country currently," Pawar said, after inaugurating the eighth national conference of Krishi Vigyan Kendras organised by the state-run Indian Council of Agricultural Sciences.

Hoping that procurement in the domestic market would improve in a couple of weeks and aid stabilisation of onion prices, Pawar said a large quantity of the onion crop got damaged due to excessive rain in states where the bulb is grown extensively.

"At the same time, every state should take stringent action against hoarding. Nobody is exporting. The hoarding is causing shortage in the market," Pawar said.

Noting that imports would increase supply, the minister said onions have started coming to the market in Alwar in Rajasthan, about 160 km from Delhi.

Lower supply to the market had led retail onion prices to touch Rs.100 per kg in Delhi Tuesday, from Rs 80 per kg last week.

Expressing concern also for onion growers, Pawar said if prices of the bulb crash in the future the government would have to protect the investment of farmers in their crop.