Onion shortages might be a new chapter in world food crisis

Onions are the staple of cuisines across the world, the most consumed vegetable after the tomato (technically a fruit). About 106 million tons are produced annually — roughly the same as carrots, turnips, chillies, peppers and garlic combined.

Onions are the staple of cuisines across the world.

Now, all over the world, prices are soaring, fueling inflation and prompting countries to take action to secure horti supplies. Morocco and Turkey have halted some exports, as has Kazakhstan. The Philippines has ordered an investigation into onion cartels.

Restrictions have also gone beyond onions to include carrots, tomatoes, potatoes and apples, hampering availability worldwide, the United Nations  and the World Bank warned this month. In Europe, empty shelves have forced UK supermarkets to ration purchases of some fruit and vegetables after a weak harvest in southern Spain and North Africa.

The jump in prices is a knock-on effect from disastrous floods in Pakistan, frosts damaging stockpiles in Central Asia and Russia's war in Ukraine. In North Africa, meanwhile, farmers have battled severe droughts and an increase in the cost of seeds and fertilizers.

Poor weather has hit Moroccan growers particularly hard. At a market in the Ocean district in central Rabat, Fatima said vegetable prices remain "exorbitantly high" even with the ban on sending onions and tomatoes to West Africa introduced by the government this month.

In Kazakhstan, the spike in prices has prompted authorities to tap strategic stockpiles while its trade minister urged people not to buy onions by the sack amid a panic rush to secure supplies in local supermarkets.

Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com