Letters: Onion problem

The editorial "Marketing, not hoarding" (October 1) sums up the reasons for the recent surge in onion prices. It is not the failure of the United Progressive Alliance or the opposition-ruled states but a total failure of the state and government machinery regardless of which party is in power. Consider this: the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED)'s offer, in June 2013, to store onions at its cold-storage complex at Nashik to be accessed during the lean season, went begging. Two months before onion prices touched Rs 70 to 80 a kg, states were warned of an impending spike in rates and offered the option of booking stocks in advance at a modest market rate of Rs 15.50 a kg at the onion hub of Nashik but no state government responded. NAFED usually levies 2 per cent as administrative charges. The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre has a radiation processing plant in Nashik (technology demonstration plant) designed to process 10 tonnes of onions an hour. Built in 2005, this plant is sporadically used. The states should build more such plants and reduce the wastage of harvested crops.

M M Gurbaxani, Bangalore

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