Telangana plans to raise onion production

Hyderabad: The Telangana government is gearing up to achieve self-reliance in onion production in the wake of huge fluctuation in prices and higher dependence on imports.

The government will supply onion seeds to farmers on 75 per cent subsidy against 50 per cent now.

Each farmer will be allowed to purchase seeds worth up to Rs 12,000, of which the government will bear Rs 9,000 as subsidy. A kilogram of onion seeds cost a little over Rs 1,000.

The government will hold a state-level farmers’ meeting at Public Gardens on August 14 to create awareness among farmers on taking up onion production on a large scale with a clear-cut assurance that the government would buy the onion stocks from farmers directly at a profitable price through the marketing department.

The area under onion cultivation in Telangana in the present Kharif season has already come down to 27 per cent due to drought conditions last year.

In the meeting, the government will request farmers to bring more area under onion cultivation.

They will be asked to take up cultivation by September, so that fresh stocks would arrive in the market by December.

“Last year, onion cultivation was taken up in 6,000 hectares. This year, it came down to just about 1,000 hectares. This is primarily due to drought conditions. However, the government wants to encourage onion cultivation in the ensuing Rabi in those fields which have borewell facility. Unless the onion production increases, it is difficult to check higher prices in retail market,” said P. Srinivas Reddy, minister for agriculture.

At present, the state is mainly dependent on imports from Maharashtra, Karnataka and AP for onions.

With onion prices touches higher levels up to Rs 50 per kg in the retail market, the government procures stocks from neighbouring states and sells them in Rythu Bazaars for Rs 20 per kg at subsidised rates.

However, the stocks are getting exhausted in Rythu Bazaars within two hours due to heavy rush of consumers.