November 2: The price of onion has increased by 66 percent in the market of Kathmandu within a period of three weeks. According to the daily price list of the Kalimati Fruit and Vegetable Market Development Committee, the price of onion has skyrocketed in the last three weeks.

The price of onion has increased in Nepal due to India’s decision to tighten the export of onions on the pretext that it is difficult to meet the demand in its domestic market.

According to the committee's price list, the wholesale price of onion, which was Rs 73.80 per kg on October 12, increased by 66.67 percent to Rs 123 on November 1. The Kalimati vegetable market meets about 70 percent of the demand of Kathmandu Valley. Balkhu, Tukucha, Kalanki, Balaju and other markets meet the remaining 30 percent demand.

The price of onion has reached Rs 155 per kilogram in the wholesale market as well as the retail stores. About 99 percent of onions imported in Kalimati market are from India.

Binay Shrestha, information officer of the committee, says that India is having trouble to meet the demand for onion in the domestic market for a few weeks now.  As a result, India tightened exports which directly impacted the Nepali market, says Shrestha. According to him, the import of onion from India has declined recently.

As per the data of the committee, 56 metric tons of onions were imported to the Kalimati market on October 12. By October 31, the amount of import has dropped by more than 57 percent to 24 metric tons. Shrestha says that it is natural for the price of onion to increase after the decline in import of onions.

The domestic production of Nepal cannot meet the market demand. Therefore, large quantities of onions are imported from India. In the last few years, there has been a decline in production of onion in Nepal.

According to the data of the National Potato, Vegetable and Spice Crop Development Center, onion cultivation was done on 20,900 hectares of land in Nepal in the fiscal year 2075/76. In the years since then, the area of onion cultivation seems to be gradually declined. According to government data, onion was cultivated in only 20,400 hectares of land in FY 2076/77 which further dropped to 20,300 hectares in FY 2077/78.

Stakeholders say that Nepalis have to buy onions at high prices due to over dependence import. The center's crop development officer Sandeep Subedi said that consumers have been forced to buy onions at exorbitant prices since the government could not bring big programs for production and promotion of onion.

According to him, one reason why Nepali consumers have to rely on India for onions is the government's inability to bring big programs and the lack of quality seeds for farmers to produce quality onions by themselves.

With the aim of making the country self-sufficient in onions, the government had conducted the ‘Mission Onion’ programme in Jhapa, Siraha, Saptari, Dhanusha, Bara, Parsa, Rupandehi, Banke and other districts with an investment of Rs 50 million in FY 2064/65. However, the programme was not successful. Farmers say that the Mission Onion program failed because the government only made announcements but did not monitor how the program was being run and also did not show any interest in solving the problems that surfaced during the implementation of the programme.