Govt cuts down Rabi onion target

The State Government has reduced the onion production target set for the current Rabi season and asked the National Seeds Corporation (NSC) to supply 651 quintal onion seeds instead of 1,000 quintals.

Of the total quantity of onion seeds, the order has been placed for 443 quintal AFlR variant and 208 quintal AFDR variant onion seeds from the corporation.

Earlier, the Directorate of Horticulture on October 1 had written to the Kolkata-based NSC asking to supply 1,000 quintal onion seeds of AFlR (800) and AFDR (200) variants for 10,000 hectare land in the State.

With the latest placement of order, changes have been made accordingly for the areas. While order has been placed for supplying 32 quintal onion seeds for Athamallik and Angul district against the earlier order of 50 quintal, 65 quintal seeds have been sought for Boudh district.

Notably, the State Government has formed Onion Mission to increase onion production in the State in order to tackle the price rise. As per the official data, Odisha currently produces approximately 4 lakh tonne onion, while it needs around 3 lakh tone per annum.