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Government onion rules favor importers, farmers charge
By Mangala Pavithrani
Colombo, Oct. 29 (Daily Mirror) - The government’s newly imposed criteria on the purchase of onions are impractical and designed to protect importers while harming local farmers, National Farmers’ Union Chairman Anuradha Thennakoon alleged yesterday.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Thennakoon said the government has set strict measurement-based standards for locally purchased onions, including:
Onion diameter must range between 35mm and 65mm
Onions larger or smaller than this range should not exceed 10% of the total weight
Approximately eight onions must be present per 1kg, among several other conditions
“These criteria are not practical. So far, 150,000 metric tons of imported onions have already been brought into the country. We see this as a meticulous operation to sell those stocks and protect the importers,” he claimed, adding that the same restrictions do not apply to imported onions.
He further said no previous administration had imposed such “ridiculous” requirements on onion regulation.
Sri Lanka’s annual onion demand is 280,000 metric tons, and nearly 90% of that is currently met through imports—an issue that has long created an unfair playing field for local farmers, he stressed.
This season, onion cultivation has taken place across roughly 6,000 acres in Dambulla, Galewela, Sigiriya, Anuradhapura and Kekirawa. However, Thennakoon noted that yields have been low, further worsening the challenges faced by farmers.
As a result, many growers have become helpless due to their inability to sell their harvest at a fair price, he added.
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