The target area under kharif onion this year is 3.61 lakh hectares which is 27% higher than last year, the Ministry of Food said on Friday.

The availability of onion in the domestic market is comfortable, notwithstanding the marginally lower production of onion in the rabi-2024 season compared to last year’s production, the Ministry of Food said.

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It further said that in Karnataka, the top kharif onion-producing state, sowing is completed in 30% of its targeted area of 1.50 lakh hectares, and sowing is making good progress in other major producing states.

Good and timely monsoon rains this year have provided a big boost for kharif crops, including onion and other horticultural crops like tomato and potato, the Ministry of Food highlighted.

As per the assessment of the Ministry of Agriculture with the state governments, the area targeted for the kharif sowing of major vegetables namely, onion, tomato, and potato has seen a significant increase over last year.

It is to be noted that the onion crop is harvested in three seasons: rabi in March-May; kharif in September-November and late kharif in January-February.

In terms of production, rabi crop accounted for roughly 70% of the total production while kharif and late kharif together constitute 30%. Kharif onion plays an important role in maintaining price stability during the lean months between rabi and peak kharif arrivals.

As per the data shared by the Union government, the onion currently available in the market is a rabi-2024 crop, harvested during March-May, 2024. The estimated rabi-2024 production of 191 lakh tonnes is sufficient to meet the domestic consumption of about 17 lakh tonnes per month and continued restraint on export within 1 lakh tonnes per month.

Further, dry weather condition prevailing during and after rabi harvest this year is observed to have helped in lowering storage loss of onion. Onion prices are stabilising as the quantity of rabi onion released in the market by farmers is increasing with higher mandi prices and the onset of monsoon rains which increases the chances of storage loss due to high atmospheric moisture.

The area under kharif potato this year is targeted to increase by 12% over last year. Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have covered almost the entire targeted sowing area while sowing in Karnataka and other states are in good progress.

As per DAFW data, 273.2 lakh tonnes of rabi potato have been stored in cold storage this year which is sufficient to meet the consumption demand. The prices of potato regulate the rate at which it is released from cold storages during the storage period from March to December.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture’s assessment with state governments, the targeted kharif tomato area this year is 2.72 lakh hectares, compared to 2.67 lakh hectares sown last year. Crop conditions are reported to be good in major producing areas of Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh and Kolar in Karnataka. In Kolar, the picking of tomatoes has started and will hit the market within a few days.

As per feedback from District Horticultural officials in Chittoor and Kolar, the tomato crop this year is substantially better than last year. Kharif tomato areas are set to increase substantially over last year in the major producing states of Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu.