Bengaluru: You chop an onion and it will make you cry for sure, but here in Karnataka, one of the largest states producing onion, farmers are crying after growing it.
Sad but true, the onion price has hit rock-bottom in the last one week in the state and the free fall has left onion growers panic-stricken.
As per reports, one bag of 100kgs of onions is being at as low as Rs 100 in places like Hubballi, Dharawad, Haveri, Gadag, Bagalakote, Belagavi and other places in the wholesale market, which means one kg of onion costs Rs one!
The farmers say that there has been sudden flow of onion in to the state from other parts of the country, including Karnataka’s close contender Maharashtra, resulting in slash in price.
The yield was reportedly good this year and the farmers were expecting good returns, but destiny had something else in store for onion growers of the state, who could not reap what they sowed. Karnataka exports large part of its onion produce to Kerala, Tamil Nadu and neither parts of the country, however, cyclone Gaja closed down exports to Tamil Nadu- one of the major consumers of the state’s onions.
“We cannot even recover our transportation costs now, ” said a growers from Haveri adding that some growers have sold their produce even at Rs 1 per kg.
Yet another farmer says that it is time the state and central governments came to the rescue of onion growers as they need help to survive.
