Farmers advised to sell rabi grown Onion immediately

Onion is one of the most volatile price holding crops. rabi grown onion is steadily entering into markets of north Karnataka. Uncertainty of prices at harvest has made the farmers to think about the time and place of selling the produce. Under such a situation, to help the farmers to take right decisions regarding place and time of sale of the commodity, the prices of onion that would prevail in major markets of north Karnataka after harvest have been predicted by the Domestic and Export Market Intelligence Cell (DEMIC) established in the Department of Agri-business Management, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad.

Monthly modal prices of onion were collected from Belgaum market, one of the leading onion markets in north Karnataka, for the past 16 years and were analyzed by using rigorous time series analytical models and reliable forecast prices that would prevail in this market during February, March and April 2012 were established. The output prices were cross verified with the opinions of traders, agricultural scientists and progressive farmers to fine tune the forecast prices. The prices from other major markets and government policies with regard to the marketing of the crop were also considered to come up with accurate price forecasts.

The normal yield of onion in a good crop year will be around 50-55q/ha. According to price forecasts and opinions of traders and suggestions of the experienced farmers, the prices of onion would be around Rs.850 during February, which is expected to reduce to Rs.800 during March and further reduce to Rs.750 during April 2012 per quintal in Belgaum market. Therefore, farmers are advised to sell the produce immediately after harvest because the trend of prices is expected to be decreasing from February 2012 onwards. Well dried, uniform sized, clean and round bulbs fetch better prices in the market. Hence, farmers are advised to keep these things in mind while preparing the produce to the markets.