Kurnool Market Yard Starts Selling Area Onions At Rs 2 per kg
This to clear the huge stock of local variety onions before they get damaged. Of 1,900 MT, 1,230 MT got sold on Sunday
Kurnool: Following the state government’s announcement of providing Rs 50,000 per hectare to distressed onion farmers in Kurnool area, the district administration has decided to discontinue the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 1,200 per quintal from Monday.
In addition, authorities have started selling around 1,900 MT of onions procured at MSP and piled up at the Kurnool Market Yard for Rs 2 per kilogram on Sunday. The piled up onions also got auctioned for Rs 100 per 45 kg bag.
District joint collector Dr. B. Navya said the Rs 50,000 per hectare assistance would be directly deposited into the bank accounts of farmers who have registered in the e-crop. She clarified that as the support price of ₹1,200 per quintal is being withdrawn from Monday, farmers are free to sell their produce anywhere they wish.
Market Yard secretary R. Jayalakshmi said of the 1,900 MT of onion stock procured, 1,230 tonnes had been auctioned or sold on Sunday. She made it clear that there will be no onion sales on Monday.
With no Markfed intervention and auctions and sale ending on Sunday, the remaining stocks must either be sold at any price or moved to the Kurnool dump yard. Large quantities of unsold onions are already being shifted to the dump yard.
Observers say traders have exploited farmers of onions in the Kurnool district this year. They purchased the produce at historically low prices. A quintal got sold for just ₹50 on Saturday. Many farmers complained that traders refused to quote prices even after they had dried, graded and brought their onions to the market.
Due to a glut, onion sales had been suspended in the agricultural market yard on Thursday and Friday, leading to a surge in sales on Saturday. Farmers brought 17,350 quintals for sale. Of these, traders did not buy even half of the lots put up during the e-NAM session. Most traders quoted prices between ₹58 and ₹100 per quintal. Markfed purchased only 1,190 quintals at the MSP of
Rs 1,200 per quintal.
