The Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee, which is one of the biggest onion marketyards in the country, handling about 40 lakh quintals of the crop annually, received about 30 tractor trailor loads (each carrying 30 quintals) and 15 bullock-carts today. The old stock of rabi onions stored by traders and some farmers was much in demand, with prices ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 4,001 per quintal. The new kharif crop fetched prices ranging from Rs 502 to Rs 3,002 per quintal.

When the market had closed for the Diwali holidays on October 16, the average prices of the rabi onions were Rs 3,140 per quintal and those of the kharif onions were Rs 961 perquintal. The arrivals, then, were over 50 tractor loads. It was expected that the arrivals would pick up after the week-long holidays. On the contrary, the flow of the crop has slowed down.

The kharif crop has failed due to intermittent rains and cloudy weather, especially during the bulb formation stage. While the superintending agriculture officer of Nashik division, Yuvraj Salunke has said that the shortfall in the kharif onion harvest is between 35 to 40 per cent, market sources say that it is over 50 per cent. Most of the new crop is of less storage value and said to be unfit for long distance transportation. Hence, traders and rich farmers who had stored the last summer crop are making hay as the old stock is much in demand, for its size, quality and better shelf life.

According to officials, the situation is better than last year, when onion production in the State had fallen from the normal 1.5 lakh tonne to a meagre 40,000 tonne in the kharif season. This year, they point out, the damage isbetween 35 to 40 per cent and hence the availability is more. However, neither the farmer nor the consumer is experiencing the improvement claimed by officials, as prices have continued to soar. The farmers are not getting the expected yield and despite the high prices, are at a loss. The only beneficiary is the trading community, which had bought the summer onions in April-May, when prices had ranged between Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200 per quintal and stored the crop for an extra buck. Maharashtra, incidentally, grows 1.5 lakh tonne of onions in the kharif season, 3.60 lakh tonnes in the late kharif (January-February) and about six lakh tonne during the rabi (summer) season. The summer crop, unlike others, can be stored for upto six months.