Gujarat government announced a Rs 200 per quintal financial assistance to onion farmers on Monday, following the state's bumper crop. As markets in Saurashtra, a key onion growing region in the state, became flooded with fresh crop, prices began to fall, causing farmer discontent.
Gujarat Agriculture Minister Raghavji Patel announced on Monday financial assistance of Rs 2 per kg or Rs 200 per quintal for farmers, with a limit of Rs 50,000 per farmer.
The state government has set aside Rs 100 crore for financial assistance.
Onion (Allium cepa) is India's second most important commercial crop, after potatoes. Onion crops are grown on approximately 5.30 million hectares worldwide, with an annual production of 88.48 million tonnes and productivity of 16.70 tonnes per hectare.
"This rabi season has seen approximately 88,000 hectares of onion cultivation in the state. This has resulted in above-average production and market arrivals this year. As a result, onion prices have been falling since April 1.”
Patel went on to say that the government had received numerous complaints about the uncompetitive onion prices from growers and farmer organizations.
Last year's rabi season saw total onion cultivation on 60,000 hectares, with an estimated output of 17.67 lakh tonnes.
Total sowing is expected on 88,100 hectares during the 2021-22 rabi season, with output increasing by about 35% to 23.92 lakh tonnes.
Minimum prices for red onion at the Mahuva market in Bhavnagar district - a hub of the state's onion trade - fell to Rs 200 per quintal on May 9 and Rs 310 per quintal for white onion, with arrivals of 28,392 bags of 50 kg each for red and 72,338 bags for white onion. Prices were hovering around Rs 975-1,095 per quintal last year around the same time.
