Steep price fall leaves onion growers in tears in Chamarajanagara

Chamarajanagar: Thousands of farmers cultivating onions inthis border district of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are literally in tears as the price of their produce has nosedived due to excess supply.

The price of onion zoomed to Rs 200 a kg owing to shortage a year ago so much so that hoteliers even stopped using onions in cooking. But now the price has crashed so has the hope of farmers. At worst of times the farmers used to get Rs 12-13 per kg for good quality onion.

Farmers say that though there is good demand in Tamil Nadu,the night traffic ban imposed by the High Court on Dimbam -Satyamangala national highway due toenvironmental reasons, onion transportation to the neighbouring State has been badly affected.

Onion is widely grown in Hanur and Chamarajanagara taluks. Speaking toThe Hans India on Tuesday,an onion grower from HanurSiddaramappasaid thathe has cultivated onion in his three-acre land. But the price has completelycrashed after he harvested the crop. His expectation to get at least Rs 15,000 income has proved wrong. His three months toil in the fields has gone down the drain. At the time of sowing the price was Rs 1500- Rs 1600 perquintal in the market. This has come down to Rs 500 - Rs 600 per quintal. Siddaramappa switched over to onion crop after sugarcane price slump. But market vicissitudes have left him in tears.

Another farmerMurugashettyofHaradanahalli inChamarajanagar taluk, said,"I have grown onion in my one-acre land by spending around Rs 15,000 – Rs 20,000, but now I cannot hope to recover my investment due to crash in the price of onion in both wholesale and retailmarket.

The price of onion in Chamarajanagara APMC market had crashed to just Rs 2per kg for lower grade onion on Monday, leaving farmers in tears literally. The situation is the same at Lasalgaon, the largest onion market in thecountry where a sharp slump in onion price has witnessed for the past two months thoughthe benefit of this is not reaching end consumers. For instance, kirana shops are selling a kg of onions for Rs 20-Rs25 per kg.