KADAPA: The onion farmers, who cultivated Krishnapuram (KP) variety of onions, are a happy lot with the Centre announcing that it would lift ban on export of this variety in a couple of days.
The farmers said that the Centre following soaring prices of onion due to scarcity, imposed a ban on exports last year. The farmers cultivated KP variety of onion in 6,350 acres in Kadapa and Kurnool districts. They exported about 1.9 lakh quintals of KP variety of onion to Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and other Asian countries from Chennai port.
Interestingly, due to small size and pungency, there is not much demand for KP variety of onion in the domestic market. However, there is huge demand for this variety of onion in the neighbouring countries.
The State government purchased 800 tonnes of KP variety of onion, but later stopped purchasing it. It may be mentioned that the onion farmers, led by leaders Madan Mohan Reddy, Venkatarami Reddy, Dasaradharami Reddy and Dastagiri, have camped in Delhi and met Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, MPs and officials concerned to lift ban on export of KP onions.
Marketing Department AD Raghavendra Kumar said that the government purchased KP variety of onion at `5,000 per tonne and sold it to public through rythu bazars. “As the consumers were not keen on buying KP onions, we stopped it,” he added.