Economic Assessment of Onion Dehydration in Gujarat State: Can It be a Means for Stabilizing Onion Prices?

Abstract

Onion is extremely important vegetable for earning foreign exchange grown in an area of 1.04 million hectares with a production of 15.74 million tonnes in India during the year 2011-2012. Gujarat state with 6% share in area and 10% share in production occupied third rank in area and production and first rank in productivity of the onion in 2011-2012. The onion dehydration industry of the state is the biggest in the country and it comprises 80% of the total dehydration units. This study explores processing cost, marketing cost and margin and employment generation in onion dehydration industry of Gujarat as well as growth of export of onion from India. It was found that the cultivation of onion is concentrated in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. An appropriate export policy along with policy on fixing Minimum Export Price during glut season and efforts to minimize the variation in prices of onion in order to stabilize the area of the crop are the suggestions emerges from the study.