"Dopiaza..

is currently unavailable". So said a sign outside a popular restaurant in town, it was reported recently. This preparation, a favourite with locals and tourists alike, now lacks its essence. Pakoras at the roadside tea stall are now being made from everything but onions. Bhuna masala at dhabas have been re-created by increasing the quantity of tomatoes or substituting the common-man's once humble food "pyaz" with mooli (as if!)

That onion prices have sky-rocketed is not news. I purchased a kilo for Rs. 25 back in November and paid Rs. 75 for the same quantity a week ago. Tears could have been shed, without even having taken a knife to the darned veggie!

Food price inflation is high (13.6% at the end of December, YoY), driven largely by price hikes of non-cereal commodities, viz. fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs/meat. So what's going on? The spurt in onion prices is largely blamed on non-seasonal late monsoon showers, which destroyed the harvest and caused a severe supply crunch. Add to that, large amounts have been hoarded for speculative purposes by various entities. In a knee-jerk reaction, the central government banned onion exports and removed import tariffs, hoping that the root vegetable brought over from neighbouring countries, especially Pakistan would somehow get to the root of the problem between our nations and attempted, in vain, to play the diplomatic trump card.

However, has this really affected the average urban Indian consumer? For those of us who order take-out, how many have we switched from buying the Rs. 300 pizza to saving the amount for a few kilos of onions? Or even from spending half that amount on a tub of popcorn at the movies? Yet, its the urban middle class consumer who will make the biggest hue and cry about rising costs while the brunt of the crisis yet again is borne by those living a rather meager existence.

Agriculture’s value-add to the economy now stands at a dismal 17%, but around two-thirds of our labour force is still engaged in the sector, which means that and a significantly large proportion of our 250 million households rely upon agriculture income as their primary source of livelihood.

This begs for a more distributed, widespread and even impact of public policy rather than it being targeted at a select few, who don’t necessarily need the help. It calls for a more preventative approach to better managing agriculture produce in the country, and avoiding temporary ‘reactionary’ solutions every time the rain Gods decide to unleash their fury upon us. It calls for improving existing infrastructure networks, scaling up investment and technological advancements, removing regulatory bottlenecks in the market and building and strengthening value chains for our farmers.

Remember, you reap what you sow.