Monthly advisory of onion and garlic crop for the month of June 2025About the Directorate
Onion and garlic are world-famous spice commodities used for flavouring dishes. Besides culinary purposes, these are considered valuable medicinal items. The fungicidal and insecticidal properties of garlic are well identified. Dehydrated powder & flakes, and paste prepared from onion and garlic provide a rich agro-industrial base for these commodities.
Production Statistics
- India ranks second in area (13.20 lakh ha) and production (209.31 lakh tonnes) of onion
- For garlic, India ranks second in area (2.81 lakh ha) and production (16.17 lakh tonnes), next to China
- India exported 34.92 lakh tonnes of onion worth Rs. 4651.72 crores during 2016-17 (DGCIS, 2017)
- In the past 20 years:
- Onion production has increased more than four times
- Garlic production has increased more than two times
Productivity Challenges
The productivity of both onion (17.32 t/ha) and garlic (5.44 t/ha) is far lower compared to countries like Netherlands, USA and China. This is due to:
- Poor yielding short day genotypes
- Susceptibility of available genotypes to major pests and diseases
- Improper or inadequate use of production technologies
Our History
Recognizing the importance of onion and garlic in India, ICAR established the National Research Centre for Onion and Garlic during the VIII Plan with its headquarters at Nasik in 1994. Due to working constraints, the Centre was shifted to Rajgurunagar on 16 June 1998.
Over the years, the centre has created better facilities for field and laboratory research. The centre was upgraded to the Directorate of Onion and Garlic Research in December 2008. It also has an All India Network Research Project on Onion & Garlic with 25 participating centres across the country.
Mission
To promote overall growth of onion and garlic in terms of enhancement of quality production, export and processing.
Mandate
- Basic, strategic and applied research on genetic resource management, crop improvement and production technologies for enhancing and sustaining production of onion and garlic
- Transfer of Technology and capacity building of stakeholders for enhancing productivity of onion and garlic
- Coordinate research and validation of technologies through AINRP on onion and garlic
