THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Bihar assembly elections have affected the state’s efforts to procure onions to stem the rising price, Agriculture Minister VS Sunil Kumar said on Thursday.
“The onion procurement by Kerala from the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) has been affected due to the Bihar poll. We hope the supply from Nafed would be restored in the coming weeks,” he said.
Horticorp, Consumerfed and the Civil Supplies Department had together made an initial booking of 1,800 tonnes of onion. But Nafed sent only five loads (one load carries 25 tonnes) to Horticorp, two to Supplyco and one to Consumerfed, totalling 200 tonnes.
Consumerfed chairman M Mehaboob said the load it received was distributed through the outlets in southern districts. “We were told one more load would arrive in a couple of days and it would be distributed through Consumerfed outlets in North Kerala,” he said.
The price of onion remains high in open markets of the state with consumers being forced to purchase it for Rs 60-80 per kg. The onion procured by the state government agencies is being sold for Rs 45 per kg through their outlets.