NAFED to begin onion procurement from three mandis in Gujarat from March 9

Moved prompted from the government’s side due to the falling prices of Onion in State

The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) will start procurement of Kharif onion in Gujarat from Thursday from three mandis (markets) to provide relief to farmers, as prices have crashed in the wholesale markets, according to the Food and Consumer Affairs Ministry.

NAFED will begin onion procurement from Bhavnagar, Gondal and Porbandar mandis in Gujarat from March 9.

More centres will be opened from time to time as required, it said.

"Farmers are requested to bring their good quality and dried stock to the procurement centres to avail better rates at these centres," the Ministry said.

Payments to the farmers will be done online, it added.

The Ministry said the Central Government has planned this market intervention in order to give immediate relief to the farmers from crashing prices of onions in the State.

NAFED will procure Kharif onion to address the issue of falling prices of onion in Gujarat and this move will provide stability to the onion market in the State, it added.