AZE.US
Onion prices in Azerbaijan have collapsed to 6.5 qapiks per kilogram on the wholesale market, creating serious losses for farmers and raising fresh questions about planning in the country’s agricultural sector.
REAL Party Chairman Natig Jafarli wrote on Facebook that farmers are now struggling to sell a 30-kilogram sack of onions for even 2 manats. He noted that the empty sack itself costs around 1 manat, meaning producers are barely covering the packaging, let alone labor, transport and cultivation costs.
Jafarli linked the current price collapse to the sharp rise in onion prices seen in Turkey in 2024 and 2025, which also affected Azerbaijan. At the time, onion prices became a major public issue, and many farmers responded by planting more onions.
Now, he said, the market is facing the opposite problem: too much supply, too little coordination and no effective mechanism to protect farmers from a sudden price crash.
According to Jafarli, the Ministry of Agriculture should not act as a structure standing above farmers, but as a planning and support center that helps them understand market demand, avoid oversupply and build direct links to buyers.
He also questioned why farmers still cannot easily sell their produce directly to supermarket chains. In his view, a functioning “field-to-table” chain could be created with a few practical decisions, reducing the dependence of farmers on middlemen and unstable wholesale markets.
The problem, he argued, is not only the current price of onions. It is the pattern. When prices rise, farmers rush into the same crop. When supply increases, prices collapse. After taking losses, many farmers stop planting that crop – and the next shortage drives prices up again.
Jafarli warned that Azerbaijan may see expensive onions again in 2027, because farmers hurt by this year’s losses are likely to reduce planting next season.
The onion market has now become another example of a wider agricultural problem: farmers react to yesterday’s prices, while the system fails to prepare them for tomorrow’s market.
AZE.US