Quality issues affect Nafed’s onion procurement in Maharashtra

Wholesale onion costs at Lasalgaon, the nation’s largest wholesale marketplace for the bulb, have been round Rs 1,900-2,000 per quintal as a consequence of an increase in demand.

Wholesale onion procurement by the Nationwide Agricultural Cooperative Advertising and marketing Federation (NAFED) in Maharashtra for the Centre’s buffer inventory has been dealing with problems with high quality. Of the full procurement goal set by the federal government after easing of the second lockdown, round 50,000 tonne of the commodity has been procured by NAFED, together with supporting farmer producer corporations.

NAFED is to obtain some 2 lakh tonne of onion because the buffer inventory on the prevailing market fee below the Worth Stabilisation Fund. Of the full goal, Maharashtra’s share is 1.5 lakh tonne, of which 1.4 lakh tonne shall be procured by way of farmer producer corporations — Maharajya, Pruthashakti Farmer Producer Firm and MahaFPC and the remaining 10,000 tonne by way of NAFED.

Sushil Sant, common supervisor, Nashik, who’s overseeing the procurement course of, identified that unseasonal rains in February and March had broken the crop. “Solely 20-30% of the crop is storable and adequate to be dropped at the market. The procurement course of has not been capable of decide up pace due to this. Solely 50,000 tonne have been bought thus far,” he stated., including that the procurement targets have remained unchanged.

At current, the farmer producer corporations are paying farmers Rs 22.80 per kg for the bulb, which is a median of the modal costs of the final three days. Wholesale onion costs at Lasalgaon, the nation’s largest wholesale marketplace for the bulb, have been round Rs 1,900-2,000 per quintal as a consequence of an increase in demand.

Yogesh Thorat, MD, Maharashtra Farmer Producer Firm (MahaFPC) – a federation representing almost 303 farmer producer corporations (FPCs) within the state, stated the companies have been dealing with high quality considerations because the commodity has been deteriorating as a consequence of weather conditions. MahaFPC has a goal of 25,000 tonne.

Suvarna Jagtap, chairperson, Lasalgaon market committee, identified that summer time onion shares that are sought by procurement companies are in brief provide. At current, the market is flooded with the crimson onion selection, which has a shelf lifetime of barley two-three months. Summer time onion with a shelf lifetime of six months is in brief provide.