With onion prices going through the roof, the State government has enhanced the orders placed for onion consignments from 75 tonnes to 200 tonnes as part of a frantic market intervention effort.
The first consignment of 25 tonnes, from Maharashtra, has already arrived in the State. Of this, 10 tonnes, intended for the northern districts, were offloaded at Ernakulam. The remaining 15 tonnes were brought to the Agriculture Department’s World Market at Anayara in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday for distribution in the southern districts.
The onions would be sold at ₹45 a kilo through outlets of the Kerala State Horticultural Products Development Corporation (Horticorp), Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar said.
After prices surged to as much as ₹120 per kg, the State government had placed orders for 75 tonnes to the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd via Horticorp. But given the situation in the market, this had been enhanced to 200 tonnes, Horticorp managing director J. Sajeev said.
The sudden spike in onion prices was triggered by shortage caused by rain-induced crop damage in north Indian States.
