The price of vegetables, particularly onions, could rise in the coming months as the government has estimated that output is slightly lower than last year.

Production of vegetables is estimated to be around 168.6 million tonnes which is marginally lower by 0.3 per cent than the previous year, according to the agriculture ministrys first advance estimates of horticulture crops.

Out of this, the production of onions is estimated to be around 19.7 million tonnes which is 6 per cent lower than the previous year.

"The dro in planting or production is a failure of system which could have used the price stabilisation fund to procure onion, potato and other vegetables when they were being sold at rock bottom prices or thrown on roads by farmers, as seen in the past few months. This will result in a price hike of vegetables in the coming months," said Ashok Gulati, agricultural economist and former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices.