The Onion crop is harvested in three seasons: rabi in March-May; kharif in September-November and late kharif in January-February.
Boosted by “good and timely monsoon rains”, the Kharif sowing area of onions is set to be 27% higher than last year, the Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ministry said Friday.
“As per the assessment of the Ministry of Agriculture with the state governments, the area targeted for kharif sowing of major vegetables namely, onion, tomato and potato have seen significant increase over last year,” the Ministry said in a statement.
“The target area under Kharif onion this year is 3.61 lakh hectare which is 27% higher than last year. In Karnataka, the top Kharif onion producing state, sowing is completed in 30% of its targeted area of 1.50 lakh hectare, and sowing is making good progress in other major producing states,” it added.
The Onion crop is harvested in three seasons: rabi in March-May; kharif in September-November and late kharif in January-February. In terms of production, rabi crop accounts for roughly 70% of the total production while kharif and late kharif together constitute 30%.
“Kharif onion plays an important role in maintaining price stability during the lean months between rabi and peak kharif arrivals,” the Ministry said.
As per the statement, “The onion currently available in the market is rabi-2024 crop, harvested during March-May, 2024. The estimated rabi-2024 production of 191 lakh tonnes is sufficient to meet the domestic consumption of about 17 lakh tonnes per month and continued restraint on export within 1 lakh tonnes per month.”