Centre to release onions from buffer stocks

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₹1,700 a quintal from ₹1,370 a week ago in Maharashtra's Lasalgaon mandi. Retail prices are hovering at ₹30 a kg, according to the data from the consumer affairs ministry's price monitoring division. Prices have increased due to fears of shortage going ahead.

A rise in temperatures in February led to early maturity of the Rabi crop in key producing states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan which was followed unseasonal rainfall which hit the quality and, thus, the shelf life of onions. Against this backdrop, food and consumer affairs secretary Rohit Kumar Singh held a meeting National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) on Thursday and finalised modalities for offloading buffer stock. The buffer stock was created under the Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) to meet exigencies.

The annual buffers have been built by procuring onions from rabi harvest for release in major consumption centres during the lean season. The food ministry has said that will release onions from the buffer by targeting key markets in states or regions where retail prices are ruling above the all-India average and also where the increase in prices over previous month and year are above the threshold level. Disposal through e-auction and retail sales on e-commerce platforms are also being explored.

The quantity and pace of disposal will be calibrated with prices and availability situations with the objective of making onion available to consumers at affordable prices, it said. The government will also offer onions to states at discounted rates for sale through retail outlets of their consumer cooperatives and corporations. This year, irradiation of onion