TIRUCHY: The price of shallots skyrocketed to Rs 100 per kg in wholesale markets in the delta region on Monday due to a rise in demand and drop in the quantity of the crop arriving from other states. While farmers fear a shortage of onion seeds ahead of the next season, experts believed the prices are likely to remain high till May.
Most of the demand for shallots in the wholesale markets of Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchy is partially met by cultivation in Tiruchy, Perambalur and Kallakurichi, the rest coming from Karnataka. However, unseasonal rains in the region this year cultivation of the crop.
“More than 95 per cent of the cultivation was damaged in the rain. The price of shallots was Rs 20-30 in January, but now it has touched Rs 100. Meanwhile, only 20-30 metric tonnes of shallots are being received from Karnataka per day, when the requirement stands anywhere between 70-100 metric tonnes," said Thangaraj, secretary of Tiruchy Wholesale Onion Traders' Association.
In his view, normalcy would only return in May when crops planted recently will mature. "Till then, the demand and price will be high," he said.
On Monday, the price of one kg of shallot stood at Rs 140 in the retail markets of Tiruchy and Perambalur. In October 2020, it was above Rs 70.
Thangaraj noted that some shallots harvested during the initial days of the rains failed to fetch a good price at the markets as excess fertiliser was used.
Meanwhile, the rains also affected the availability of onion seeds. "Usually we keep some seeds for sowing in the coming season. As rains this year did not make way for it, we are struggling to get seeds. We will save the ones in the current season for sales in May month," said Rajagopal, a local farmer.
Sources said that with losses standing at around Rs 1 lakh per acre, farmers have been forced to shell out money from their pockets to purchase seeds in the open market.
A senior official from the Horticulture department said that farmers had been advised to adopt crop rotation. But farmers, hoping for a good season, have started cultivating shallots once again.