Amid soaring prices, onions rot on Bengaluru streets

While onion prices have shown no signs of cooling over the past few days, the Bengaluru market is witnessing yet another peculiar problem with bulbs worth lakhs of rupees rotting on the streets.

According to estimates by traders at the Yeshwantpur APMC market, every day, around 60 to 75 tonnes of onions are rejected as waste and dumped on the streets to be either cleared as garbage or picked up by migrant labourers who sell them outside the market at throwaway prices.

For almost a week, rotten and poor quality onion bulbs have been strewn across open spaces along Tumakuru Road and surrounding areas raising a stink. According to the Onion Traders' Association at Yeshwantpur market, around 250 to 300 truckloads of onions enter Bengaluru every day. "In each load, two to three quintals go waste and around 60 to 75 tonnes of onions are discarded on the streets as they are rotten or of poor quality," said P Shivakumar, vice president of the association.

Yet another trader revealed that of the 70,000 to 80,000 bags (each of 50 kg) that are delivered to the market, 25 to 35% are thrown as waste. "This is a peculiar situation as there is high demand and adequate supplies. But there is a dearth of quality onions," the trader explained. Vijay Sajjanar, an onion farmer from Gadag district said, "From my two acres, I got a yield of 600 bags. But when I brought them to the market, 250 bags of onions were marked substandard and thrown out as waste." Surprisingly, the increase in wastage has not affected production with cultivation and production still high across Karnataka, especially in the central districts like Chitradurga and Davangere.

C Udayashankar, secretary of the association said, "Good quality onion bulbs are usually diverted to neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala at better rates." He also said that poor quality onions are thrown away only after they get the consent of farmers who are paid a minimum compensation from the traders’ welfare trust.

The dumped onions, on the flip side, have resulted in a windfall for street vendors who salvage some bulbs from the piles and sell them at the local market at low prices.