The Indian Ministry of Agriculture’s third advance estimate has forecast that India is set for a third consecutive year of bumper onion crop production in 2018-19. The production of onions last fiscal is projected to be around 23.48 million tons, 0.95 per cent higher than the previous fiscal, said the estimates released last week.
The increase in production has been projected despite a drop in area under cultivation. In 2017-18, 12,85,000 hectares in the country was under onion crop. This year, the number dropped by 22,000 hectares to 12,63,000.
In 2016-17, onion production soared to around 23 million tons. Subsequently, onion prices in the wholesale market fell 41 per cent. The following year, production climbed to 23.26 million tons and prices plummeted further. It is worth noting that the average onion production between 2013-14 and 2017-18 was 20.9 million tons.
Nana Patil, a board member of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India, told that the surplus monsoon has ensured a decent output in onion production this year.
“Due to flooding around the Karnataka-Maharashtra border there may have been a temporary supply shortage of onion but the supply chain has restarted especially from early kharif onion producing states like Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh,” added Patil.
Maharashtra is the leading producer of onion in India with a production share of around 38 per cent. This is followed by Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka with 16 per cent and 12 per cent shares, respectively.
