Many layers: On onion produce, issues
The article discusses the challenges of India's onion market, specifically the government's reactive policy shifts regarding exports and procurement prices. It argues that proactive measures like better storage and consistent trade policies are needed to protect farmers from price volatility.
Why it matters
Onion price fluctuations are a major political and economic issue in India, directly impacting both farmer livelihoods and consumer inflation.
Since the 1960s, India has developed a balancing-act habit: between keeping food prices affordably low for consumers and assuring farmers of remunerative prices, with the state’s interventions focused on managing this volatility in the short term. This is also why the government banned onion exports from December 2023 to May 2024, then imposed a $550/tonne minimum export price and a 40% export duty, reduced the duty to 20% in September 2024, and finally abolished it in April 2025 . But erratic weather together with the lack of long-term relief has rendered the act increasingly awkward. From farmers’ point of view, the government often changes its mind after they have made important production-related decisions based on the expected price.
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