Lok Sabha Question No. 1760 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-27
Subject: Storage Facilities for Onion
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: Asaduddin Owaisi

## Government of India

## Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Department of Consumer Affairs

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1760

TO BE ANSWERED ON 27.07.2022

## STORAGE FACILITIES FOR ONION

1760.  SHRI ASADUDDIN OWAISI:

Will the Minister of CONSUMER  AFFAIRS,  FOOD  AND  PUBLIC  DISTRIBUTION miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) whether average production of onion in the country during 2020-21 was 269 million tonnes as against the consumption of 156 lakh tonnes;
- (b) if so, whether even with the high production of onion in the country, the prices of onion shoots up during several months and the Government has to import onion to keep the price in check;
- (c) whether due to improper storage facilities loss of nearly 1100 crore is reported per year;
- (d) if  so,  whether  the  Ministry  has  asked  more  than  100  universities  including  technical  universities  to explore ways and means in improving storage of onion in the country; and
- (e) if so, the facilities likely to be provided by the Government to these universities for innovative ideas and procedure for lowering storage loss of onion in the country?

## ANSWER

## miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k jkT; ea=h

## (श्री अश्विनी ी म ा र   चौबे)

## THE MINISTER OF STATE CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

(a) to (e) :  Onion production in 2020-21 as per the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare was 266.41 Lakh Metric Ton (LMT) and onion consumption in 2020-21 as per market intelligence report was 160.50 LMT.

Due  to  its  perishable  nature  and  gap  between  the rabi and kharif crops,  the  prices  of  onion  tend  to increase during the lean months of September to December. To stabilize the prices of onion, the Government maintained buffer stock of 2.0 LMT in 2021-22 and 2.5 LMT in 2022-23, and the Government has not imported onion during 2021-22 and 2022-23. The overall post-harvest losses of onion occurs due to several factors like loss  of  moisture  content,  fungal  infection,  decay  loss,  sprouting  loss  etc.  which  may  be  reduced  through improved storage facilities.

To address the problem of post-harvest loss of onions, the Department of Consumer Affairs has rolled out a Hackathon/ Grand challenge to the scientific community, researchers and startups for seeking ideas and development of prototype for post-harvest storage of onions. There are four verticals of the challenge namely, improvements  in  the  designs  of  storage  structures,  pre-harvesting  stage,  primary  processing  and  valorization; value addition and utilisation of onion waste. The challenge has been rolled out in three stages. There will be evaluation  of  ideas,  technology  solutions  at  three  stages  namely,  ideation  to  proof  of  concept  stage,  proof  of concept to product stage and field implementation. Agriculture Universities and  the Central Universities have been  informed  about  the  challenge  with  the  request  to  disseminate  the  challenge  for  ensuring  maximum participation. There is no provision for separate facilities to be provided to the universities.