Pakistan’s onion shortage should not make New Delhi shed tears

As rising tomato prices — 106% in the last 12 months — make consumers see red, Brazilians have been handed a juicy excuse to turn to humour and sarcasm to deal with the situation. Given the crucial role of the vegetable in that country’s cuisine, popular reactions — from calling the tomato a luxury meal and status symbol to taking cartloads of it to parliament to reduce the government to pulp — are relatively mild by comparison. But as Pakistan sheds tears over the current local price of onions and the apparent inability of the caretaker government there to handle it, India would do well to ketchup with Brazil’s tomato experience to know what could be in store.

There has been considerable heartburn over the cheaper availability of tomatoes across Brazil’s southern border, adding a new “red” item to the contraband being smuggled in from Argentina and Paraguay. Of course, Indian authorities should not be unduly worried if a vegetable becomes a more lucrative focus of clandestine cross-border trade than more traditionally coveted commodities such as guns and drugs, the possibility of domestic repercussions on either side cannot be disregarded. New Delhi can ill-afford to let Pakistan determine the fate of Indian onions, so a close eye needs to be kept on all underground activities.