News
Who moved my onions? Govt plans digital platform to keep track
Summary
- The government wants a central platform to monitor procurement, sales and stock position of onions, and intervene in the market if necessary
New Delhi: The Union government plans to launch a digital platform dedicated to keeping track of the procurement, sales and stock position of onions–a prized commodity now, especially with the national election mere months away.
The Centre would use information from the platform to also intervene in the market when required, two officials said.
The government is taking various efforts to augment domestic supply of onions and keep prices stable amid falling production, including a ban on exports introduced in December.
“Currently, (various) agencies, especially Nafed (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd.), have been facilitating procurement and sales, and keeping a tab on stocks for a long time. Whatever data they provide, we go by that. We just wanted to take over," said one of the officials.
“With the new portal, both DoCA (department of consumer affairs) and agencies will have access to data, and the department will be able to monitor every single movement, like daily procurement, sales of onion, and the number of farmers registering and selling," the official added.
The plan is still in its early stages, said the second official. Both the officials declined to be identified.
The consumer affairs department did not immediately reply to queries on the plan.
Data from the platform will not be available to the general public, the second official said. “As it is for internal purposes, the public will not have access to data related to stock positions and other matters. If access is given, it will have a different impact. There is a chance that it will benefit traders by giving them an indication to manipulate the market and prices," the official said.
Erratic rains and extended dry spells hit onion production during the kharif and late kharif (monsoon sowing) seasons in major producing regions in Maharashtra and Karnataka, making for a potentially hot-button political issue with the national election due in April-May.
As a result, the government last month banned onion exports after the imposition of a minimum export price of $800 per tonne did not serve the purpose of discouraging sales to overseas markets.
Though the price of onion has eased in recent days the government is on watch to not let it increase due to the tightness in supply.
Sowing of rabi or winter onions has been 20% lower so far in January, raising concerns over adequate production.
Maharashtra and Karnataka are among the country’s top producers of onion.
Patchy monsoon and dry spells lowered the kharif onion cultivation area in Maharashtra to 86,000 hectares in the 2023-24 kharif season from the previous season’s 90,000 hectares. Production is estimated to have fallen to 750,000 tonnes from 798,000 tonnes.
In Karnataka, the acreage fell to around 110,000 hectares from 145,440 hectares and production to 770,000 tonnes from the previous kharif season's 1.7 million tonnes.
Overall onion production in the 2022-23 crop year is estimated to have dropped 4.7% on year to 30.2 mt.
