COIMBATORE: Many small onion farmers in Coimbatore district are staring at a loss after the kharif harvest. With small onion prices dropping to less than Rs 40 in the market and Rs 20 at the farmer’s gate, many farmers say their earnings will not even cover their labour costs.A few farmers, who opted for delayed sowing due to heavy rain in May and June, say their crops began spoiling. They say tonnes of small onion in storage godowns also have begun spoiling.Two years ago, during drought, small onions, a cooking staple in most South Indian dishes, became a precious commodity enjoying a price tag of around Rs 100 per kg. The prices ranged between Rs 90 and Rs 140 per kg.Buoyed by the prices it was garnering, many farmers began cultivating it. As a result, two years later, the prices have dropped to less than Rs 40 a kg.“Small onion is cultivated across 5,000 acres in the district,” said president of the Tamil Nadu Farmers Association (CITU), S Palanisamy.“We demand that the agriculture and revenue department do an inspection of review of the lands where the crop is cultivated and the markets, to see small onion flooding the market and small onion in the farms and storage godowns spoiling as farmers wait for a better price,” he said.With summer rains being heavy in April and the southwest monsoon setting in early, the small onion sowing which happens between April and May, got delayed to June second and third week.“With small onion production being high in all the fields and the price of it dropping, farmers are hesitating to harvest their crop,” said Palanisamy. “In many areas, small onions are spoiling in the farm itself. Small onions in storage are also getting spoilt because of lack of air circulation,” he said.Farmers say small onion is a crop that requires a minimum support price. “Small onion has become a burden to most farmers instead of bounty because of the low prices in the market. If you sell it for Rs 15 a kg in the farm gate, you do not even cover your labour costs which occur during harvest,” said Karthik Krishnakumar, a part time small onion farmer.“Small onion is a crop that requires 500 kg to 600 kg of seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and labour. The government, taking all these issues into account, should fix a price for it around Rs 30 to Rs 40 a kg at farmer’s gate protect farmers,” he said.Palanisamy said farmers should get a subsidy for small onion seeds and fertilisers to mitigate the current losses

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