WHY DO ONION PRICES IN INDIA BRING TEARS SO OFTEN

C. PRIYADARSINI¹*, K.M. SHIVAKUMAR², M. PRAHADEESWARAN³, D. MURUGANANTHI^4
1Department of Agricultural Economics, Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development Studies, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641 003, India
²Department of Agricultural Economics, Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development Studies, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641 003, India
³Department of Agricultural Economics, Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development Studies, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641 003, India
⁴Department of Agricultural and Rural Management, Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development Studies, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641 003, Tamil Nadu, India
* Corresponding Author : priyadarsini13c@gmail.com

Received : 02-01-2021     Accepted : 26-01-2021     Published : 30-01-2021
Volume : 13     Issue : 1       Pages : 10566 - 10569
Int J Agr Sci 13.1 (2021):10566-10569

Keywords : Onion, Seasonality, Rainfall, Minimum Export Price, Price Volatility
Academic Editor : Dr Akhilesh Singh, Dr Vipul N Kapadia
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Authors are thankful to Department of Agricultural Economics, Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development Studies, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641 003, Tamil Nadu, India
Author Contribution : All authors equally contributed

Onion is a sensitive crop due to its skyrocketing prices and its demand is highly inelastic. This study depicts the issues faced by the farmers and consumers due to the price volatility of the onion. The time-series data on monthly arrivals and prices of selected markets were collected from January 2010 to November 2020 from the NHRDF database. The collected data was used for computing trend and seasonal index. The results showed a positive trend in prices of all the selected markets. Seasonal index for arrivals was maximum in Hubli Market during October (272.10), lowest in July (42.74), and for prices maximum in November (145.05) at Mumbai, lowest in May (51.37) at Indore. Prices and arrivals exhibited a positive relation in November month. Correlation analysis was carried out between Deviation in the rainfall and market arrivals for production centers. A negative and significant correlation was observed in Pimpalgaon and Hubli markets. The findings conclude that neither the farmers were not benefited by the hiked prices nor the consumers benefited during the low prices. The market intervention of the Government with a long-term approach will stabilize the price volatility of the onion

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