A recent report by India's National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF) paints a bleak picture for the storage potential of onion bulbs due to damage suffered from heavy rainfall earlier in the season. 

Early indications for Indian's Rabi onion crop estimate total volumes will be higher than average this year with approximately 189 metric tons (MT) of bulbs harvested.

Although the Rabi variety is grown in many Indian states, the leading regions for production include Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Bihar, Rajasthan and Karnataka. Harvesting started in May and continues during this first week of June.

Usually, as one of India's staple food crops, high volumes of onions are stored all over the country for supply throughout June to November, spreading supply throughout the Monsoon season and maintaining steady prices.

But this earlier this year, much of the crop was badly damaged during a series of storms, including severe downpours and hailstorms.

In addition, late last December, onion crops, alongside other produce including grapes, peppers and pomegranates, were battered during storms which lead to a farmers' protest with producers demanding the Indian government compensate their losses.

The NHRDF has conducted a survey to monitor the quality and availability of onions in different states.

"Due to the unseasonal rains during harvesting and even after harvesting, the onions partly got soaked in rains, therefore, are not recommended for a longer period of storage," the report says.

"The rain-soaked onion bulbs have also got infected with the bacterial rot disease which is slowly cause rotting from inner scale to outer scale and after a period of one month or son, the entire bulbs will be rotting, causing loss to the growers.

"We have again surveyed the major markets of Lasalgaon, Pimpalgaon in Nashik, Pune and other markets of Maharashtra and noted that the onion bulbs which are being brought in the markets by the farmers are rain-soaked and affected with the said disease hence cannot be transported to a longer distance and also cannot be stored for a longer period."

Kharif onion variety

Looking towards expected yields of the Kharif onion variety, the report says this season's yields are forecast to be higher than last year.

"The production is going to be more than 30 lakh MT, subject to normal monsoon conditions. The harvesting of early kharif onion is expected to start by the end of July and will continue until September."

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