At a meeting of agriculture officials addressed by state Agriculture Commissioner, Dr Sudhirkumar Goyal here today, it was announced that the government would help farmers secure loans at the rate of eight to 10 per cent interest from banks to construct onion chawls. Dr Goyal said talks were underway with some banks to work out details of the scheme. At least 100 onion chawls will be constructed before March 1999.

These chawls, essentially, will be constructed from strips of bamboo or other wood standing two centimetres apart which would allow for aeration of the crop. The roof will be made either from tiles, tin sheets, asbestos or thatch. The length will vary from 13 mt to 30 mt and the height will be about 1.5 mt. Each chawl will have the capacity to store between 200 and 450 quintals of onions while the cost of construction will be aroundRs 60,000 to Rs 1 lakh.

Officials at today's meeting discussed the scarcity of onion seeds and it was decided to cultivate seeds on more than 500 acres in Nashik. Seed production would be undertaken in association with the National Seeds Corporation, the National Horticulture Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF) and Mahabeej. The project would yield about 100 tonnes of seeds for the Rabi 2000 season. It will be undertaken in Musalgaon (Sinnar), Sakora (Niphad) and Dindori in Nashik district. The area under onion cultivation in Nashik district has fallen from 30,000 hectares in 1996-97 to 26,500 hectares in 1997-98. It is estimated to go down further to 23,317 hectares in 1998-99. Accordingly, onion production has fallen from 5.37 lakh tonnes in 1996-97, to 4.39 lakh tonnes in 1997-98. Production is estimated to fall further to 2.82 lakh tonnes in 1998-99.

The meeting concluded that untimely rains of 352 mm in August 1998, 292 mm in September and 141 mm in October had damaged the Kharif crop,affecting bulb development. According to officials, the area under Rabi 1999 might be less than normal. It was also decided to undertake a joint programme to manage pests in association with the NHRDF.