On one hand everyone is weeping due to the rising prices of onions in the country and on the other hand a 42-year-old Karnataka farmer's happiness knows no bounds due to 'onions'.
Mallikarjuna living in the Doddasiddavvanahalli village of the Chitradurga district in Karnataka has made a huge profit by sowing onions in his 10 acres of land.
Interestingly, Mallikarjuna had taken a loan of Rs 15 lakh which he had invested in the crop. If he hadn't reaped the desired benefits he would have gone in a huge debt. “I would have got caught in a bad debt if the crop had failed or the prices had crashed. But onions have changed the fortunes of my family now,” Mallikarjuna told the Times of India.
Fortunately, the farmer reaped a huge quantity of the crop. He received 240 tonnes of onion that is approximately around 20 truckloads.
His investment proved fruitful. He cleared all his debt with and profited Rs 5 lakh last year.
Later, Mallikarjuna took another 10 acres of land on lease and hired some 50 field workers. He says that the time until October was difficult but once onion prices soared it was no looking back. “When I sold onions in the first week of November, the price was around Rs 7,000 per quintal. Within a few days, it touched Rs 12,000 per quintal,” he said.
The farmer has now become a celebrity in the village farming circles.
