Bengaluru: Onion in short supply as rains pound bulb-producing regions

Markets in Bengaluru are facing a shortage of good quality onions, with traders blaming incessant rains in major bulb-producing districts in Karnataka and Maharashtra for the supply disruption.

After the onion crop in North Karnataka was infested with the bulb-rot disease, traders began to source the produce from parts of Maharashtra and the districts of central and South Karnataka. However, incessant rains spanning more than a week spoiled crops in those districts and Maharashtra as well, affecting the supply to Bengaluru.

"About 50% of the load we get on a daily basis is of poor quality. As there is no alternative due to lack of supplies, we are selling the same onions," said C Udayashankar, Secretary, Onion and Potato Traders' Association, Yeshwantpur.

Good quality onion is selling for Rs 50-60 a kilogram, according to traders.

Mallikarjun, president of Rajya Raitha Sangha, Chitradurga, said: "With no supplies coming from North Karnataka, we have been sending all our produce to Bengaluru. But 60% of the onions that we harvest have been damaged by rains."

The supply from Chitradurga has come down from 1.8 lakh bags to just one lakh bags a day, Mallikarjun added.

Traders are pinning their hopes on the new harvest in Marathwada districts of Maharashtra, which is expected to arrive by the last week of November.

Tomato prices drop

Meanwhile, the prices of tomatoes have begun to drop in the city's wholesale market after weeks of surge due to what traders describe as buyers' hesitancy.

K Raja, a wholesale trader from Kalasipalya, said that the demand for tomatoes dropped because the price went up too much. A second reason is that tomatoes cannot be stored for long. The prices are set to drop further because the produce is rotting following heavy rains in Kolar and Chikkaballapura districts, he explained, expecting tomatoes to eventually retail at Rs 20 a kg.

The demand for other vegetables has also dropped.