As protests erupt, govt forms panel to rein in onion prices

The despair of farmers is clear from the forms of protest. While a farmer from Andarmul wrote a letter in blood to chief minister Eknath Shinde, inviting him for the “Holi of Onions” on Monday, 145 farmers from Chandwad tehsil in Nashik have written to the President of India, seeking permission to end their lives

Mumbai: Amid the falling prices of late kharif season onions, which have led to huge losses for farmers, a spate of protests erupted on Saturday. Farmers from Lasalgaon, India’s biggest onion market, Pimpalgaon and Chandwad blocked the Ahmednagar-Pune highway and also demonstrated outside government offices, demanding quick government intervention.

As protests erupt, govt forms panel to rein in onion prices

The despair of farmers is clear from the forms of protest. While a farmer from Andarmul wrote a letter in blood to chief minister Eknath Shinde, inviting him for the “Holi of Onions” on Monday, 145 farmers from Chandwad tehsil in Nashik have written to the President of India, seeking permission to end their lives.

Khanderao Somvanshi, one of the 145, has decided to not harvest his five-acre onion crop to avoid the additional input cost to the ₹4 lakh he has already invested by borrowing from banks and selling his tractor. Somvanshi owns 22 acres of land in Rahud in Chandwad.

“Harvesting the crop will take at least ₹70,000 more, and even if I take the crop to the market, I will not get more than ₹2 lakh,” he told HT. “This is the third consecutive year I have suffered losses. It’s a question of survival for me and my family of 12 and most other onion growers from my tehsil. Apart from natural calamities, government policies related to the export and import of agri crops have hit us the most.”

Former MLA Shirishkumar Kotwal, who had announced an indefinite fast from Friday, suspended it after an assurance of state government help request from the Union minister of state for public health. “We expect the state government to announce at least ₹500 a quintal as subsidy, otherwise it will be difficult for farmers to even minimise their losses, forget making a profit,” he said. “Farmers have been giving the government a reverse subsidy of around ₹1,200 a quintal by selling the crop at ₹400 against the production price of ₹1,800. It’s time the government announced a subsidy for farmers.” The state government is expected to announce a subsidy of up to ₹300 a quintal to onion-growers next week.

Maharashtra is one of the largest producers of onions in the country. Narendra Vadhavane, secretary, Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC), Lasalgaon, said that the recent high production in other states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal had affected the demand in Maharashtra. “Against the input cost of ₹1,100, the farmers have been selling their produce at an average price of ₹700 for a quintal,” he said.

Apart from the drop in domestic demand, restrictions on exports have led to the crisis, said Vadhavane. “Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are traditionally major importers of these onions, but exports have reduced due to the high import duty in the first country and the financial crisis in the second,” he said. “The central government should tap opportunities in countries like the Philippines and Indonesia.”

A leading Nashik producer of onions, B Y Holkar, said that the state government subsidy would help farmers make up the losses in the input cost. “The state government had implemented the subsidy scheme in 2018 for three months,” he said. “Similar schemes could give some respite to the farmers. Nashik district has around 25 lakh quintals of dark red onions from the late kharif season, and they need to be procured to avoid losses to farmers.”

The Maharashtra government has appointed a committee under Sunil Pawar, former marketing director of the state, to suggest the steps to be taken to offer respite to the farmers. “The committee is expected to submit its report by Wednesday, following which the announcement of the subsidy will be done,” said an official. “The issue is related to the late kharif season, which will last only this month. Once the summer season crop is out next month, the demand and procurement price will both go up. Until then, the government will have to bear the cost of the subsidy, which is expected to be around ₹75 crore.”

The state government has announced that it will procure onion stocks through the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED). The farmers, however, have complained that the centres should be within the APMCs so that the farmers can sell off their produce at competitive prices. Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said in the assembly on Thursday that NAFED would be directed to set up more centres inside APMC. Until Friday evening, NAFED had procured 1,600 metric tonnes of onions from farmers.

According to state government directives, NAFED has set up a few centres but the farmers are still choosing private traders to sell their produce. The traders in APMC pay them on the spot against the three to four days taken by government agencies. Government agencies mandate specific grading of the product, leading to rejection of the stock to a large extent. NAFED, on an average, paid ₹821 and ₹900 a quintal to the farmers through the centres it set up in the last few days. Against this, APMC traders paid ₹750 and 700 a quintal as the average price on Friday and Saturday respectively.