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Around 2,500 tonnes of onions will be dispatched by the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) to Delhi to deluge over the crisis. Under the Price Stability Fund (PSF), the onions have been recently procured for the Centre.

A rise in average wholesale prices of onions resulted due to the short supply. This eventually, lead to rise in retail prices to of onions to Rs 40 per kg in the country.

At India’s largest wholesale onion market at Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC), the average wholesale price of onion has gone up by approximately 72%. The average wholesale price of onion on June 30 was Rs 1,450 per quintal and is Rs 2,500 a quintal now.

A buffer of approximately 10,000 tonnes was created by the Centre through NAFED and the Small Farmers' Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) under the PSF. Between May 15 and June 25, the NAFED procured 2,500 metric tones and the SFAC procured around 7,500 metric tonnes of onions.

The sources from the NAFED told TOI that, "We are in the process of dispatching onion stock to Delhi to tide over crisis. We have already floated a tender to transport onions to the national capital and the agency is expected to be appointed in next few days."

-Sumana