ONION (Allium cepa L.) belongs to family Liliaceae. It is an important vegetable crop probably grown as widely as any cultivated crop. It is used almost daily in a wide variety of dishes. Onion is one of the major crops in many tropical countries placed high with other vegetables.
The native place of onion is probably Asia; perhaps India is the place of its origin. It is a reasonable source of micro food, nutrient, mineral, salt and vitamins, hence used by all sections of life.
The use of onion is not limited to any climate or associated with any nationality. Of the vegetable crops listed by the FAO (2005), onion ranks second after tomatoes in terms of total annual world production.
Pakistan, the land of more than 140 million people with an area of 796,096 sq km, is one of the few countries blessed with diversity of agro-ecological conditions and well-drained fertile soils which facilitate the production of almost all kinds of horticultural crops.
As regarding onion, there has been spectacular increase in the area and production over the last decade. The main factors contributing towards increasing area and production have been heavy domestic consumption and demand on account of increasing population, adoption of improved cultural practices, sufficient inputs and sizeable export demand.
However, onion yields in Pakistan are quite low, (10-12 tons/hectare) and is considerably less than the potential yields (22 tons/hectare). The gap between potential and actual yields is very wide, due to poor management practices and post-harvest losses. Onion growers do not get justified returns from their produce due to poor marketing system.
The soil and climatic conditions of the NWFP are congenial for the production of various vegetable crops. The land available for cultivation is in small pieces and scattered in pockets in hilly areas. For best utilization of scarce land, growing of valuable vegetables crops is the most profitable business. Onion is one of the valuable vegetable crops in the NWFP.
The horticultural industry has a bright future in Malakand Division, which contributes 40 per cent of the NWFP produce. Moreover, crops from this area are supplied over a major part of the year on regular basis. For instance, the supply period of apple is six months, that of onion five months, cucumber six months, and tomato nine months.
Onion is among the main cash crops produced and supplied by this area. The division accounts for over 60 per cent of the total onion production in the NWFP.
Onion crop produced in Malakand Division is either marketed immediately after harvest or stored for a period of one or two months before marketing. High temperature and humidity, however, cause high post-harvest losses.
Estimates suggest that losses are up to 20 per cent. Onion is supplied to various cities of the country by the growers themselves and through beoparies (middlemen). The onion in Swat and Malakand Agency areas is marketed in Mingora, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Lahore.
This study was designed under the project Restructuring of Horticultural Research and Development in the NWFP to find out the marketing channels adopted by the onion growers and determine the performance of existing marketing system in Swat.
Results indicate that half or 51 per cent of the total farm size was devoted to onion crop (1.31 acres), which reflects the importance of it. A majority of the growers sold their produce to pre-harvest contractor, 24 per cent sold onion produce in Mingora wholesale market.
The pre-harvest contractors purchased onion produce from the growers and sold it in Mingora, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Lahore wholesale markets. Every contractor in the research area invested Rs100,000 to 300,000 in onion business.
Lack of finance to bear marketing cost was the major problem mentioned by 61 per cent of the respondents in the research area, while monopolistic behaviour of marketing intermediaries and low prices in local markets was the second major problem at 30 per cent. Lack of opportunity and guidance regarding export was the third problem.
Onion is the major cash crop and income source of the area farmers. Operational land holding of growers in the research area was below the subsistence level; besides this they also lacked financial resources.
A majority of the producers sold their produce to pre-harvest contractors and did not avail the benefit of price variations. It is remarkable that majority pre-harvest contractors belonged to farming community. It was investigated that the onion growers were compelled to dispose off their produce at lower price, soon after harvesting, because of the non-availability of cold storage facilities.
To improve the marketing, all agencies involved should be trained and educated in modern packaging, grading and product presentation techniques, meeting the international standards for better prices. To improve the present infrastructure facilities particularly, cold storages are needed to regulate onion supply and to facilitate price stabilization.
It is highly recommended that the ZTBL and other commercial banks launch a special loaning scheme to reduce marketing losses and pre-harvest sale of crops.