New Delhi: The govt has directed the NCCF and the NAFED to start out getting 5 lakh tonnes of onion for the country’s buffer prerequisite directly from farmers as the Rabi-2024 harvest has started arriving in the market, the Foods Ministry reported on Tuesday.
Authorities procurement organizations NAFED and NCCF have been informed to pre-register the onion farmers to be certain that payments for the create are transferred to their lender accounts by means of Direct Profit Transfer.
Rabi onion crop is important for the country’s onion availability as it contributes 72 -75 per cent of once-a-year production in the nation. The Rabi onion is also crucial for ensuring calendar year-spherical availability of onion as it has a better shelf lifestyle compared to the Kharif onion and can be saved for materials until November-December.
The Section of Buyer Affairs experienced, by way of NAFED and NCCF, purchased about 6.4 lakh metric tonnes of onion all through 2023-24 for buffer stocking as perfectly as intervention by way of simultaneous procurement and disposal. The steady procurements by NAFED and NCCF experienced assured remunerative charges for onion farmers all by 2023.
Subsequently, the Office of Buyer Affairs adopted the retail sale intervention for making onion readily available to consumers via retail stores and mobile vans operated by NCCF, NAFED, Kendriya Bhandar and other State controlled cooperatives at a subsidised selling price of Rs.25 for each kg for the duration of past yr. The timely intervention and calibrated launch ensured the stabilisation of retail selling prices effectively with no impacting the earnings of farmers.
The world-wide offer scenario and dry spell induced by El Nino necessitated the govt to consider up policy steps to control onion exports in the course of FY 2023-24. These measures involved a 40 per cent responsibility on onion exports imposed on August 19, 2023, imposition of a Least Export Value (MEP) of USD 800 for every MT with outcome from October 29, 2023, and export prohibition w.e.f. December 8, 2023, to guarantee the availability of onion to domestic people at inexpensive price ranges.
The current conclusion to lengthen onion export prohibition has been necessitated by the all round domestic availability against the prevailing intercontinental costs and world wide availability fears.
In the meantime, the governing administration has permitted exports to neighbouring countries that rely on India for their domestic intake needs. These nations around the world incorporate Bhutan (550 MT), Bahrain (3,000 MT), Mauritius (1,200 MT), Bangladesh (50,000 MT) and the UAE (14,400 MT i.e. 3,600 MT/ quarter).