On the back of large-scale onion imports from India, the government initiated campaign Mission Onion in major onion producing districts last year in an effort to involve more farmers and gradually substitute imports from Nepal’s southern neighbor.
However, Kalimati Fruits and Vegetables Market Development Board’s data shows its prices rose sharply in the market despite the rise in production.The market price of onions has more than doubled over the past year. Onions sold at Rs 28 per kg on the wholesale market on February 14, 2009, while the price was only Rs 12 per kg on the same day last year.
“The price of locally-produced onions did not go down because onions supplied from India are selling for higher prices. Our farmers have fixed the price at par with the Indian onions,” said Basu Subedi, an official of the Vegetables Development Directorate in Khumaltar, Lalitpur.
The tune of the traders is also the same. Hakim Ansari, a wholesaler of onions and potatoes at Kalimati wholesale market, attributed the rise in onion prices to skyrocketing prices of the product in Nasik, India, due to lower productions caused by flooding of major onion fields.
“Not only have prices gone up, the quantity of onions in the market has also declined in recent months,” said Ansari, who has been importing onions from India for the last five years.
Mission Onion aims to replace imports by increasing the land devoted to onion farms from 15,062 hectares (Ha) to 27,292 Ha across the country by fiscal year 2011/12.
During fiscal year 2007/08, as part of the government’s plan, an additional 8,681 tons of onions worth Rs 78.12 million were produced in new farms, stretching along 600 Ha of land in Siraha, Saptari, Bara, Dhanusha, Sarlahi, Rupandehi, Nawalparasi and Kapilvastu.
“This additional production replaced imports by almost 25 percent,” said Subedi
About 30,781 tons of onions were imported from India during the year. Nepal imports onions from Nasik in the Indian State of Maharashtra.
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