Onion cultivation crippled in Jaffna

Jaffna special correspondent

JAFFNA: Onion cultivation in Jaffna is badly impaired by the prevailing insecurity in the peninsula. Cultivators are unable to send their produce to the South. As a result the price of red onions is coming down day by day.

This year the yield of onions is said to be more than the previous years. A kilogram of red onion sold at Rs. 50 to Rs. 60 in the Tinnavely, Maruthanmadam and Chunnakam markets is now sold at Rs. 20 to Rs. 25.

The cultivators complain that the buyers from outside Jaffna have stopped purchasing their produce. Vegetables such as brinjal intensively cultivated in the Thenmaradchy area especially in Madduvil near Kodikamam is hard to buy in the interior markets like Tinnavelly, Chunnakam and Maruthanmadam.

The producers are frightened to take their vegetables to other fairs in Jaffna in fear of claymore and hand grenade attacks.

As a result the price of a kilo of brinjal sold at Rs. 40 has shot up to Rs. 90.