Instead of selling onion at water mall, market it by adding value

- Antenna - Vivek Mehta

- Only Rs. 4.20 lakhs investment and sold onion paste for Rs. 7.5 lakhs can be earned

Narendra Modi's BJP government has banned the export of onion. Under its influence, onion farmers of Gujarat are not getting enough prices. Farmers shout. But they have the option of value addition. Beyond providing credit to farmers and benefiting from subsidies, cooperative societies have to take the lead and be active in moving farmers forward in the direction of value addition. It is now more important that FPO operators also venture into food processing. Value addition will enable farmers to get real income of their right by breaking the middleman chain. This income can be four times more than the income from sale of onion. Onion paste or onion powder does not only have its market in India, there is scope to export it outside India as well.

Nowadays the time of ready to eat food has come. Today ready-to-serve packets of edible dal for making dal rice are available in the market. Since both husband and wife are working, they can devote minimum time to cleaning the kitchen. Also, if the income is good, they have hired a cook to cook at home. The cooks are seen behaving as if they only come to visit. Cooks have been reluctant to serve vegetables. Helpless workers have been buying chopped vegetables too. Today's husband and wife do not have the time to bring onions and chop them and send them to the cook or prepare other things. As a result ready-to-eat food is increasing in dominance. This trend has enlarged the market for value added products.

That is why the demand of onion paste as a ready-to-use food is increasing today. Farmers Co-operative Societies can market onion paste by setting up a manufacturing unit. To take advantage of this trend, farmers have to get out of the we-can't-do-business mentality. Cooperatives can form a group of five to fifty farmers and engage in onion paste production and marketing by setting up an onion food processing unit. A brand has to be created along with it. That paste should be sold under a brand name only. By doing so, its market can be created on a permanent basis.

Large scale onion farmers can also make good income individually by making onion paste and branding and marking it. Almost no kitchen needs onions. Onion paste can be used as a substitute for onion when prices skyrocket.

In India, onions are consumed for twelve months. After the onion is removed from the soil, its spoilage is also observed. So, if the onion is converted into a paste immediately after removing it from the soil, the damage is reduced. The value can also be higher. Thus, the option of branding and marketing by making onion paste seems attractive. Variety can also be created by adding flavor to it from time to time. Ready-to-use onion flavor with galak-garlic, ginger-ginger, chili-chilli can also be prepared.

Khadi and Village Industries Commission- KVIC to prepare its business by making onion paste in the report to put a paste making unit Rs. 4.19 lakhs is said to be spent. It requires a plot of 300 to 500 square meters. It costs up to one lakh rupees to build a shed on it. After laying this shed, the unit for putting onion paste in it can be started. Compared to onion cultivation, 40 to 50 farmers together can set up a paste making unit by individually investing only Rs.9000 to 10,000. PM for the project. There is an option to get financial assistance from Mudra Yojana.