3 min readNew DelhiMay 14, 2026 09:26 PM IST
Amid drop in the crop’s prices, the Centre is set to start the procurement of onions for the government’s price stabilisation buffer from May 15, a top official said on Thursday.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare said that onion procurement will commence Friday. “This year the government has set the procurement target of 2 lakh tonnes of onion,” she said, adding that the responsibility of the onion storage is assigned to Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC).
The procurement will be undertaken by the two cooperative bodies — the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF). Of the 2 lakh tonnes onion procurement target, NAFED and NCCF will procure in equal quantities of 1 lakh tonne each.
As per a source, the NAFED and NCCF are in the process of finalising the qualified local agencies for the procurement. And, the CWC has identified about 20 onion storage godowns with a combined capacity of over 2 lakh tonnes.
“The registration and payments to onion farmers by NAFED and NCCF shall be done through e-Samridhi and e-Samyukti portals of the respective agencies. The storage godowns shall be distributed between NAFED and NCCF to achieve maximum possible proximity between the godowns-cum-procurement centres and farmer-members of local agencies,” the source said.
Onions meeting the quality standard or Grade-A onions will be accepted by the procuring agencies and CWC after quality verification. The stock delivery and acceptance process will be easy for farmers who bring pre-sorted onions to the procurement centres, and the payment shall be done to their bank accounts within three days of procurement, the source informed.
The officials further said that the minimum assured procurement price (MAPP) of onions in a state shall be determined on the basis of the average of maximum and modal prices prevailing in major mandis of the state during the previous three days. The MAPP ensures that the prices received by farmers are better than the prevailing modal prices in the market, the officials said.
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The officials further said that the minimum recovery rate for Grade-A onions with storage period of up to six months is fixed at 72 per cent, same as last year, considering that CWC is storing the onions for the first time.
