BENGALURU: With the drastic fall in onion prices, the state government is planning to bring the produce under Price Deficiency Payment System (PDPS) to help farmers. It will soon write to the Union government in this regard.
APMC Minister Shivanand Patil said on Friday that the prices of onion have crashed in view of damage to the crop due to recent rains in the state. “We will write to the Centre, urging it to procure the produce under PDPS,” he added.
Onion is cultivated on 2.05 lakh hectares of land in Vijayapura, Chitradurga, Vijayanagara, Belagavi, Dharwad, Koppal and Gadag districts. The state produces 27 lakh tonnes. Patil said the crop was ready for harvest. But untimely rains damaged the bulbs.
Prices crashed because of this. At a meeting, some officials favoured onion procurement under the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS), while others preferred PDPS.
Hence, it was decided to write to the Centre, he added.