The country's onion production is estimated to decline by 4.5 per cent to 21.4 million tonnes in the current 2017-18 crop year due to lower acreage. The country had harvested 22.4 million tonnes in the last 2016-17 crop year (July-June).
As per the ministry's first advance estimate, area sown to onion remained lower at 1.19 million hectare in the current year as against 1.30 million hectare in the last year. To ensure sufficient domestic supplies and curb price rise, the government has imposed the minimum export price (MEP) of USD 850 per tonne, which would be applicable on shipments of the commodity till January 20.
The data shows that horticulture production is estimated to be an impressive level of 305.4 million tonnes during 2017-18 which is 1.6 percent higher than the previous year and eight percent higher than the past 5 years' average production. Among other key vegetables, production of tomato and potato are likely to be better than last year.
As per the initial data, potato production is estimated at 49.3 million tonnes in 2017-18.