New Delhi: Agriculture Ministry yesterday projected six per cent fall in onion output at 197 lakh tonnes this year. The Ministry in the first advance estimates of production of horticulture crops for 2016-17 said, the output is expected to be down due to fall in cropped area. However, the estimated production is 5 per cent higher, as compared to the last 5 year’s average. The overall horticulture production during the crop year is estimated to be around 287 million tonnes, marginally higher as compared to last year.

The Ministry also released the the final estimates of 2015-16 of horticulture produce of 286 million tonnes, which is 2 per cent higher than the previous year. Production of onion at 209 lakh tonnes was 11 per cent higher, while the production of tomato is estimated to be around 187 lakh tonnes was 15 per cent higher than the previous year. However, the production of potato was 10 per cent lower than the previous year.