In the 1980 Lok Sabha elections, Indira Gandhi carried a garland of onions to political rallies to target the incumbent Janata Party government. Many other governments have also been said to have fallen because of onion prices. Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda, meanwhile, once wrote an ode to the vegetable.

Onions are also central to Malayali cooking. The savala, or big red onion, is used in masalas, provides the base for curries, adds sweetness to gravies and features in a range of tea-time snacks and street-food favourites. The sharp rise in its price has therefore put pressure on consumers across Kerala.

Agriculture Minister T Siddique announced on September 3 that 100 tonnes of onions would be procured through the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation and sold at ₹35 a kg through Horticorp and Supplyco outlets.

The intervention was aimed at easing pressure on consumers as supplies tightened and prices remained high. Siddique said the government would not leave consumers at the mercy of rising market prices and would take necessary steps to contain the increase.

The government is selling the onions through Horticorp and Supplyco outlets. Twenty tonnes initially reached the state, with 10 tonnes sent to the Malabar region and another 10 tonnes to southern Kerala.

A further 30 tonnes reached the state on Thursday, September 10, while arrangements were under way to procure the remaining quantity.

The decision followed an official-level meeting at the Secretariat on September 8, chaired jointly by Siddique and Food and Public Distribution Minister Anoop Jacob, to review the sharp rise in onion prices.

Wholesale prices had risen to between ₹58 and ₹80 a kg in several markets, including Kollangode, Kayamkulam, Chala and North Paravur. These markets were prioritised during the first phase of the intervention.

Horticorp and Supplyco are jointly handling distribution, while Horticorp’s mobile outlets have also been pressed into service to make onions available to consumers.

The Agriculture Department prepared storage arrangements, including cold-storage facilities under its control at Vazhakulam in Ernakulam, to prevent spoilage of the procured stock.

Siddique said additional quantities would be brought in depending on market demand and assured that funds would not hinder further procurement.

The Agriculture and Food and Civil Supplies departments plan to closely monitor onion prices and availability, with further market intervention planned if the situation warrants.

Retail prices have soared to as much as ₹85 a kg in several major consuming markets, not just in Kerala.

The Food and Civil Supplies Department in Kerala attributed the current increase mainly to higher prices at major production centres, including Nashik in Maharashtra and Karnataka. It also pointed to stock being held by wholesalers and a situation in which adequate quantities of onions were not reaching the markets.

The squeeze has emerged despite national onion production remaining broadly stable on paper. Officials and market sources have indicated that the problem is the availability of marketable stocks at the right time.

India depends heavily on onions harvested during the rabi season between March and May to meet demand through the summer and monsoon months. This year, however, a sharp early-season fall in wholesale prices encouraged farmers and traders to release stocks quickly instead of retaining them for the lean months.

As a result, stored rabi onions have been depleted earlier than usual.

Weather disruptions in key producing belts have further aggravated the situation. Heavy, unseasonal rain in parts of Maharashtra, particularly the Nashik-Ahmednagar belt, as well as in areas of Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, has affected standing crops and delayed the arrival of the kharif harvest.

The fresh crop, which normally eases supply pressure by late August, is now expected to arrive only around October.

Storage losses have added to the problem. Persistent humidity and monsoon moisture in warehouse centres have caused deterioration and rotting, reducing the quantity of onions that can actually be sent to the market even where stocks exist on paper.

Traders and wholesalers are also being closely watched amid allegations that they are holding back stock in anticipation of further price gains. In major trading centres such as Lasalgaon in Maharashtra, wholesale prices have risen sharply, with the increase subsequently being passed on to consumers.

The combination of depleted rabi stocks, delayed kharif arrivals, storage losses and restricted market arrivals has created a supply squeeze.

For Kerala, which depends substantially on supplies from outside the state, developments in the major producing states directly affect local prices.

The price rise has also triggered criticism from CPI(M) cyber activists, who questioned whether bringing in 100 tonnes of onions could make a significant dent in prevailing market prices.

The posts sarcastically questioned whether such a small quantity could significantly affect market prices. They also took a swipe at what they described as the tendency to defend government decisions irrespective of their practical impact, suggesting that political loyalties often take precedence over logic.

The criticism came even as the government maintained that procurement and subsidised sales were part of its efforts to contain the price rise and provide immediate relief to consumers.

Wholesale onion prices across Kerala on September 11 were ₹56 per kg in Kasaragod, ₹62 in Kannur, ₹60 in Wayanad, ₹60 in Kozhikode, ₹64 in Malappuram, ₹60 in Palakkad, ₹60 in Thrissur, ₹65 in Ernakulam, ₹65 in Idukki, ₹58 in Kottayam, ₹60 in Alappuzha, ₹68 in Pathanamthitta, ₹65 in Kollam and ₹65 in Thiruvananthapuram.

The average onion price in the state on September 11 was ₹62 per kg.

Meanwhile, the central government has sold nearly 4,000 tonnes of onions from its buffer stock across 17 cities during the first 10 days of a subsidised retail initiative aimed at bringing down sharply rising prices.

Trucks and a dedicated railway service called the “Kanda Express” are moving onions in bulk from major producing states to consumption centres. The onions are being retailed at a subsidised price of ₹35 per kg in price-sensitive cities.

With depleted stored stocks, delayed fresh arrivals, weather-related disruptions and rising wholesale prices converging, onion availability and prices remain under close watch as government intervention continues.