Express RTI reveals: onion prices soar in retail markets despite record buffer stock, calibrated release

Both these agencies effect the procurement through their ground-level sub-agents which are mostly Farmer Producer Companies (FPC) and cooperative societies who in turn buy the onion from their member farmers mostly. In its reply, the department said the buffer stock is liquidated in a calculated manner between September and December which is the lean period for onion production. “The onion from the buffer is released in major consumption centres during the lean season from September to December in a calibrated and targeted manner to cool down prices,” the reply said. NCCF has dispatched 1.36 lakh tonnes of onion to 95 destination locations, while NAFED has sold 99,843 tonnes to 127 locations in the country.

But, as data from the Price Monitoring Cell under the Department of Consumer Affairs shows, onion prices have anything but cooled down. In fact, just the opposite has happened and prices have increased to double to triple digits in the last four months. Thus, Delhi has seen a 100 per cent price rise in onion with the bulb retailing at Rs 60/kg on December 4 as against Rs 30/kg four months back. Maharashtra, one of the most significant onion producing states in the country, has reported a 126.03 per cent increase in prices (Rs 53.05/Rs 23.47) in the same period. The trend is the same in most states (See Box).

Bharat Digole, president of the Maharashtra State Onion Producers’ Organisation, said the firming of prices shows that the government procurement has neither benefited the farmer nor the consumer. “NAFED and NCCF sold onion at Rs 25/kg in wholesale markets which brought down the prices for farmers. But as data shows consumer prices have not increased during the time they sold,” he said.

Dighole claimed that while the government has managed to show the existence of buffer stocks on paper, in reality rampant corruption in the process has marred the efficacy of the whole process. “On behalf of our organisation we had written to both NCCF and NAFED to share the details of the process like the FPCs involved and the farmers who sold their onion to the agencies. Our queries were stonewalled,” he said.

Onion prices have been a sore point with the government with low availability of material leading to price escalation. Other than buffer stock, the government has also put in a steep Minimum Export Price (MEP) of $800/tonne but that has done nothing to cool down the prices.