Dist admin should check irregularities in onion procurement: Agri ministry

The Union Agriculture Ministry has suggested that district administration should be involved in procurement of onion to ensure transparency and check irregularities in the purchase process.

In a written reply to Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Food and Consumer Affairs B L Verma said, the Department of Agriculture constituted a fact finding committee to look into allegations of irregularities in the procurement of onions under Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) by National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED).

The department, vide OM (office memorandum) dated 4th November, 2024, "conveyed the suggestions that concerned district administration should be involved in the procurement process to ensure transparency and local oversight, to adopt biometric based verification of farmers, and payment to registered farmers bank account through Aadhaar Enabled Payment system", he added.

Onions for PSF buffer are procured by NAFED and National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) from farmers through Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs)/ Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs), wherein payments for the procured onions are transferred directly to the farmers' bank accounts.

In order to streamline the procurement of onions, the Department of Consumer Affairs engaged third party agencies to develop digital procurement support and information system. Through the system, procurement, storage and disposal of onions are being monitored.

To tackle the volatility in prices, the government maintains buffer stock of onion for market interventions through calibrated and targeted release to moderate the prices in the market.

"A total of 4.70 lakh tonnes of onions from rabi-2024 crop has been procured. Onion from the buffer are released in a calibrated and targeted manner to moderate prices in high price consuming centres at wholesale markets and through retail outlets," Verma said.

Onions are distributed among retail consumers at Rs 35 per kg through stationary retail outlets and mobile vans in major consumption centres, he said, adding that these measures have helped in making onion available to consumers at affordable prices and also in stabilising the prices.

These agencies procure onions mainly from Maharashtra.