Onion output pegged at 23.28 mn tonne in '18-19

The country's onion production is expected to remain flat at 23.28 million tonnes in the 2018-19 crop year that ended in June, according to the agriculture ministry's latest estimate.

While potato output is projected to be higher by 3.4 per cent at 53.03 million tonnes, tomato production is seen to be lower 1.8 per cent at 19.39 million tonnes in the said period, it said.

Overall vegetable production is estimated to be around 185.88 million tonnes, higher than 184.39 million tonnes achieved last year, it added.

As per the third advance estimate released by the ministry, total production of horticulture crops is pegged slightly higher at 313.85 million tonnes for the 2018-19 crop year, as against 311.71 million tonnes in the previous year.

"As the area under horticulture crops has remained broadly at the same level, the higher production owes mainly to productivity gains," the ministry said in a statement.

There is an estimated increase in production of fruits, vegetables, spices, flowers and honey, whereas a decline is seen in the production of plantation and aromatic and medicinal crops from over the last year, it added.

Among vegetables, onion output is expected to be 23.28 million tonnes in 2018-19 as against 23.26 million tonnes in the previous year.

Fruits production is estimated to be around 98.57 million tonnes in 2018-19 compared with 97.36 million tonnes in 2017-18.

Spices production is pegged at 9.22 million tonnes as against 8.6 million tonnes in the said period.