After 12 days lockdown, the Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee in the Nashik district started operations on Monday and received 10,337 quintals onion for trade with an average rate of ₹1,401 per quintal.
Farmer leaders and experts have appealed to farmers not to go for a panic sale of the bulb crop as it would result in a price drop. While traders say that many farmers have no storage space, the arrival of summer crops will likely to multiply in the next few days.
All market committees in the Nashik district were closed by the administration due to the rising Covid-19 cases. As a result, the arrival of summer onion rose when Lasalgaon, Asia’s biggest wholesale onion market, stopped its operation on May 12. Compared to the daily arrival of 5,000 quintal summer onion and late Kharif onion of about 15,000 quintal in May first and second week, the cumulative addition had gone up to 21,000 quintals when the lockdown started.
Lasalgaon market committee chairperson Suvarna Jagtap said that the minimum price for summer onion was ₹700 per quintal, and the highest price remained at ₹1,635 per quintal. Added, the market panel has put restrictions on traders, and farmers with only those with negative rapid antigen test reports are allowed entry.
Maharashtra State Onion Growers Association has appealed to farmers to keep a tab on the sale and help growers get good returns for the summer crop. The state has a 33 per cent share in India’s onion production; 80-90 per cent of Lasalgaon’s arrival are of export quality.