Onion exports come to a halt

Exports of Pakistani onion has come to a virtual halt since last one month as a result of resumption of exports of onion by India, sidelining Pakistani onion. India has been a major supplier of onion to most of the countries of the region. Following this development, current wholesale rates for quality onion are Rs 4 to Rs 5 per kg and for low quality Rs 3 to Rs 4 per kg resulting in the selling price of the vegetable far lower than the production cost.
Ahmad Jawad, Chief Executive Officer, Harvest Tradings urged the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to draw some long term strategy for our agriculture sector covering every commodity seriously. "We claim that agriculture is the back bone of our economy but due to lack of infrastructure we don't get due return and are unable to exploit its real potential," he said.
On account of bumper crop in Sindh in the current season, it has virtually become impossible for the farmers to keep a check on the declining rates. On average, farmers are suffering a loss of Rs 7 to Rs 8 on one kg on their produce, he said adding that due to lack of storage facilities in the country, sellers are compelled to sell their produce in the market at lower rates keeping in view vegetable's short shelf life.
Onion is one of those vegetables that have short shelf life and without any proper arrangements related to its storage; massive financial losses could be caused to the growers and farmers. Ahmad Jawad Chief Executive Officer of Harvest Tradings talking to Business Recorder blamed successive governments for this situation, as they failed to develop any mechanism to help the growth of one of the most in demand vegetables of every kitchen.
Jawad further emphasised that unlike Pakistan, Indian farmers have much superior storage facilities, as they can store their onion produce for six months with the support of their government, which has developed proper arrangements for five to six months storage of bumper crop of any perishable item. During this period, export process continues without any hindrance giving Indian exporters an edge over other exporting countries of the region.
As against that, in Pakistan, farmers could store their perishable items specially onion for a very short of eight to 10 days but at the same time they are exposed to the risk of devastation of their crop in case of rain and other natural calamity. Furthermore, urea which is available to Indian farmers at Rs 250 per 100 kg bag, is available to Pakistani farmers at Rs 1200 for the same weight. Similarly DAP fertiliser which is available at Rs 4000 per 100 kg bag in Pakistan is purchased by Indian farmers at Rs 4000 for the same weight, reflecting clear advantage enjoyed by Indian farmers in terms of input required for quality yield.
In response to a question, he said in the next few months, Balochistan crop, which is also expected to be "bumper," would start arriving in the market which could spell trouble for Sindh farmers because of unsafe methods of preserving their crop.