Study of storage losses, price realized and comparative profitability of the storage methods of onion in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra

Abstract

Onion is one of the important vegetable/spice crop. In view of global economic scenario, India is the second largest producer of onion in the world next only to China and accounts for 16 per cent of the world area and 12 per cent of the total production of onion in the world. An attempt has been made in this study to find out the economics of storage and profitability of storage methods. In all, 96 onion growers, 32 each of small, medium and large size groups were randomly selected from Shevgaon and Pathardi tehsils of Ahmednagar district. The data pertained to the reference year 2011-2012. Percentage of loss during storage period of onion was more in traditional type storage structure as compared to improved or bottom ventilated storage structure. Storage cost of onion was also more for the traditional type storage structures particularly due to high storage losses. Per quintal net price realized was more for stored onion as compared to unstored onion in all the market. In the study area there were four onion storage structures and considering all, improved type of storage structure was most adopted by the farmers because it is well ventilated with less storage losses.