Nashik: Nafed begins to procure onions from Lasalgaon market

Tushar Pawar | TNN | Updated: May 5, 2020, 10:28 IST

<p>Representative image<br></p>

NASHIK: The National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (Nafed) on Monday started procurement of onions from Lasalgaon APMC.
Last month, the Centre had directed Nafed to procure 50,000 tonne of onions to create a buffer stock in a bid to tackle scarcity of onions that usually occurs between July and September every year.
On Monday, Nafed purchased onions at an average rate of Rs 800 per quintal. According to sources, around 600 quintal of onions were procured on the first day.
"Procurement of onions will gain momentum in the next two three days. Moreover, onion procurement will also be started at other centres like Pimpalgaon and Kalwan APMCs," one of the source said.
Last year, Nafed had also procured 57,000 tonne of onions from wholesale onion markets, including 48,000 tonne from Nashik, Pune and Solapur districts. The remaining 9,000 tonne of onions was procured from various markets in Gujarat.
Meanwhile, from Monday Lasalgaon APMC finally started auction of loose onions. The APMC had stopped auction of loose onion and opted for auction of onion in sacks around a month ago due to shortage of workers.
But there was constant demand from farmers to begin auction of loose onions. Moreover, Nafed had also urged Lasalgaon APMC to start auction of loose onions. Accordingly, the decision to start auction of loose onions was taken by Lasalgaon APMC authorities.
The average wholesale onion price was recorded at Rs 800 per quintal at Lasalgaon APMC, against Rs 850 per quintal on the last working day i.e. Thursday. The minimum and maximum wholesale onion prices were recorded at Rs 400 and Rs 921 per quintal, respectively. Around 26,000 quintal of onions were auctioned on Monday.