April 11: Nepal, being an agricultural country, has not been able to be self-reliant in onion production yet. The report issued by Trade and Export Promotion Center (TEPC) suggests that Nepal has been importing onion from India and other countries. According to statistics of TEPC, Nepal imported onion worth Rs 2.44 billion within the first seven months of current fiscal year from countries including India, China, Thailand and Nicaragua.

The report proves that the country is compelled to import onions from other countries despite of being able to cultivate it in its own land.  According to the official of the center, billions of rupees are flowing out of the country in onion import.

 “The domestic production is not sufficient to meet the demand of the country resulting import unavoidable,” said an official at the centre. “Moreover, onion is imported in order to avoid price inflation caused by scarcity of onion due to low production,” said stakeholders.

Although there is extreme potential in Nepal to produce onion in its own, it could not be done as per the demand. Meanwhile, onion producers complain that the cost of the production is quite high in onion cultivation.  Moreover, the producers opined that the problem lies beneath the government’s differentiation towards the onion production.  “Lack of resources in the country and support from government plays equal part in the particular problem,” said the onion producers.  

As per the statistics of TEPC, Nepal has been importing even more onion in recent days. In the FY 2071/72, Nepal imported more than 96.3 million kilograms onion worth more than Rs 3 billion.  However, the quantity exceeds to 120 million kilograms worth Rs 3.26 billion in the FY 2072/73.