ASSIGNMENT-2

PROBLEM SOLVING
MANOJ SARMA V
AP19211120002

Onions are the most frequently used vegetable because of its delicious taste. 
There is a huge demand for onions because of its use in every food item. People 
even take onions separately for better health. India is the second-leading 
producer of onions. The onions production area covers up to 27% of its 
acreage. In India, Maharastra is the highest producer of onions. But yet it saw 
an increase in the onion price in 2013,2015. And in 2019 the situation has 
worsened. 
The onion price has boomed due to a reduction in the yield. The price of the 
onion had been Rs,180-200 in major cities for a few days. This had not only 
created problems for the public but also for the government. Farmers also had 
great depression due to damage to the crop. Only those who did not undergo 
any loss are the middlemen. Due to an increase in price, the demand for onions 
has decreased. There is an essential situation to control the price of onions, 
due to an imbalance in the quantity demanded and quantity supplied. 
The goal state would be the situation when the price of onion gets stable and 
there is a need for long term solutions. The farmers who underwent loss had 
been paid enough funds to solve their problems. The restrictions are: 
1.  The government might not be ready for funding all the farmers who had 
undergone losses 
2.  The exporter might not accept if the export is completely banned 
3.  The private fertilizer companies don’t agree for the idea of organic 
farming 
An increase in the prices of onions leads to tears in many parts of India. There 
are many causes for the increase in the price including loss of the yield due to 
loss of the crop due to heavy rainfall in major onion producing cities, 
particularly Maharashtra. Many other causes include profits made by the 
middlemen by increasing the price further than the actual price. Also, the 
export of onions to other countries is a problem. Though the government has 
increased the price for the exports this has been causing the problem. Along 
with rainfall, the reports state that over the use of fertilizers has reduced the 
capacity of soil to hold the crop. Organic farming and other methods of 
reducing the use of fertilizers like alternative plating of crops that add 
nutrients to the soil. The primary reason for the overuse of fertilizers is the 
increasing demand for onions. In some cases, onions are being spoiled due to 
the storage of the onions in the mills that have bad maintenance.  
 
We can again see an increase in the price of onions also in the future if we 
don’t take proper measures or steps to solve this problem. There are a few 
solutions which are implemented they are exporting onions from other 
countries. So that the price of onions decreases has the quantity demanded will 
increase leads to stabilize the price. We need to think about long term 
solutions. 
Here I would like to list Few long term problems so that we can avoid this 
problem in the future. 
1. Onion wastage: We undergo regular supply in this period of about 3 
months, onions are being traditionally stored in bulk where the losses 
are very high (range between 20-40% mainly because of poor 
pre-harvest and post-harvest practices.) 
2. Reforms in Agricultural marketing: Due to entry barriers for new traders 
in the wholesale market, the farmers have limited options to sell. The 
commission agents favor the wholesale traders rather than the farmers. 
Secret bidding in the wholesale market was found to be common.  
3. As soon as the crop is harvested, farmers have to directly bring the 
product to market and sell. A trader merchant, who buy the onion, 
supply the product immediately to other parts of the country within 
 20-25 days of its harvesting at different stages. The method of storing 
onion crop should not be considered similar to normal agriculture 
produce such as grains, potatoes, etc 
 

REFERENCES 
Chidanand Rajghatta (2019, October 1). What exactly is the problem with onions?. 
M-timesofindia. Retrieved March 2, 2020, from 
https://m-timesofindia-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/m.timesofindia.com/business/india-busines
s/what-exactly-is-the-problem-%20withonions/amp_articleshow/71392904.cms?usqp=mq331
AQCKAE%3D&amp_js_v=0.1 

Ms. Karthika VK (2019, December). Long Term Sustainable Solutions Needed to 
Resolve Onion Crisis. Ficci.in. Retrieved March 2, 2020, from 
http://ficci.in/spdocument/23156/FICCI's-paper-on-Onion-Crisis.pdf

Ekta Shah (2019, October 7). Onions conquer new heights. What can be done to 
control the price rise?. Zydexindustries. Retrieved March 3, 2020, from 
http://zydexindustries.com/blog-post/onion-prices-conquer-new-heights-w
hat-can-be-done-to-control-the-price-rise

Anirban Nag (2019, November 13). Rising onion prices fueling India inflation, 
not rates. Economictimes.indiatimes.com. Retrieved March 5, 2020, from
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/rising-onion-pri
ces-fueling-india-inflation-not-rates/articleshow/72033052.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&ut
m_campaign=cppst
 
Fishbone Diagram