India: Onion prices will remain depressed till mid-March

Onion prices will remain depressed till the arrival of the long shelf life rabi or winter crop in the markets in mid-March, experts said on Tuesday. There is a supply glut in the market which has led to events like farmers getting a pittance of their input costs for the produce and also angry farmers halting trading at Asia's biggest market place Lasalgaon in Maharashtra, on Monday, they said. Independent farm sector analyst Deepak Chavan told PTI that there are a variety of reasons for the current spate of troubles which has led to panic selling by farmers as the shelf life of the late kharif harvest is too small, and called for government intervention. Chavan said more farmers sowed the late kharif variety rather than the kharif variety this year leading to an increase in acreage and estimated that productivity has gone up by up to 20 per cent leading to the current situation. Prolonged rains delayed sowing and many farmers opted for the late kharif variety. They also saw a ...