State to come up with 917 godowns for onion storage
Kolkata: With production growing in leaps and bounds, the state government is coming up with 917 godowns for preservation of onions.
The agriculture cooperatives will be offered subsidies for setting up these godowns. The state has allocated Rs 6 crore for this purpose. The godowns will come up in 10 districts of Bengal which will enable the farmers to store onions at subsidized rates.
Nabanna sources said, 57 godowns will come up at Malda, 113 in Murshidabad, 124 each in Nadia and North 24 Parganas,37 in South 24 Parganas, 114 in Hooghly, 113 in East Burdwan, 79 each in Birbhum and Bankura and 77 in West Midnapore.
Presently, there are 4,500 odd onion storages each of which are capable of storing 6 to 9 lakh metric tonnes of onion. “The storage capacity that we are enhancing will cater to the Sukhsagar variety of onion. Presently, the state is much dependent on the Sukhsagar (a bit whitish) that is cultivated during winter and gives its yield during summer. In summer, there is a tendency for onions to decompose quickly due to the terrible heat. Hence, if we can store more onion, it will suffice for around six months and can be utilised properly in the domestic market,” said Subhasis Batabyal, director of State Horticulture Development Board. The increase in storage capacity is expected to curb the tendency of export to Bangladesh where the consumption is far greater than Bengal. Horticulture department sources said 750 applications were received for setting up onion cold storages and 400 of them were accorded approval.
The state has to import around 7 lakh metric tonnes annually to cater to its annual demand of 14 lakh metric tonnes. In 2011 when the Mamata Banerjee government assumed power for the first time in the state, the state’s onion produce catered only to 20 per cent of the state’s demand. Now, Bengal is able to meet 45-50 per cent of the demand and the rest needs to be imported from Nashik, parts of Andhra Pradesh, parts of Karnataka and Bihar.
