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As prices fall, Maharashtra onion farmers ask government for relief

Dec 25, 2024 09:04 AM IST

Onion prices have plummeted 50% in 15 days, causing farmer losses. They demand removal of the 20% export duty to revive exports and stabilize prices

Mumbai: A 50% drop in procurement prices of onions in the last 15 days has led to major losses for farmers. Prices have dropped from 3,600 a quintal on December 12 to 1,725 a quintal on Monday. Farmers associations have now demanded the removal of the 20% export duty to push exports.

A farmer, Mahindra Surayawanshi, put an onion garland on state minister Nitesh Rane during a rally in Nashik on Monday.
A farmer, Mahindra Surayawanshi, put an onion garland on state minister Nitesh Rane during a rally in Nashik on Monday.

The rise in the fresh harvesting of late kharif onion, coupled with the duty on exports, have led to the drastic fall in prices. The release of the stock procured in the past by the government agencies NAFED and National Consumers Federation of India, which have flooded the markets, has also led to the price drop.

“The input cost of onion per acre is 80,000. Farmer are getting just 60,000, leading to losses of 20,000 per acre. The central government should immediately lift the export duty as this is not the time to retain it because there is no shortage and the rates have crashed,” said Bharat Dighole, founder president of Maharashtra state onion producer farmers organisation.

While Maharashtra is the largest onion-producing state in the country, Lasalgaon in the Nashik district has one of Asia’s largest wholesale markets for it. The Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) saw an inflow of 2,500 quintal late kharif onion daily over the last 15 days, which fetched an average cost of 1,725 per quintal. When the crop is sold at 3000 a quintal, the farmers get some profit, said Dighole.

The anger among onion farmers was palpable when fisheries and port minister Nitesh Rane addressed a rally in Baglan in Nashik on Monday. A farmer, identified as Mahindra Surayawanshi, put an onion garland on Rane, an act that led to him being questioned for several hours by the police.

Amid the fall in prices, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar last week urged the BJP-led Centre to remove the 20 per cent export duty on onions to provide relief to farmers grappling with plummeting prices.

The central government had imposed 40% export duty on onion on October 28, 2023, which was reduced to 20% on May 4 this year in the middle of the Lok Sabha election to pacify the anger among farmers in Maharashtra.

Ajit Nawale, national joint secretary, Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha (ABKS), said the falling price of onions was the result of flip-flop in government policies and religious political agenda affecting exports. “Many Gulf countries that have been major importers of the Indian onion haves stopped taking onion from us, because of the religious agenda of Indian government. Rampant change in the export import policies have majorly hit our credibility in the international market. On the other hand, the input cost has increased because of inflation, per acre production has dwindled owing to climate change, resulting in the two-way losses to the farmers,” he said.

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