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Not enough: Nashik onion farmers on Centre’s bid to stabilise wholesale prices
Prices crashed due to low domestic demand and the stoppage of exports to Gulf countries because of the Iran-US situation
If the initial trend is any indication, the Centre’s decision to buy onions from Nashik farmers to stabilise the wholesale price is not yielding a positive outcome so far. The wholesale onion prices in the country’s biggest onion mandi at Lasalgaon in rural Nashik on Monday continued to range between ₹800 to ₹1,100.
Prices crashed due to low domestic demand and the stoppage of exports to Gulf countries because of the Iran-US situation. Centre decided to procure 2 lakh tons from Nashik onion growers through two central agencies to create a buffer stock and stabilise the onion wholesale price in the mandis.
Two central agencies -- National Cooperative Consumers Federation of India (NCCF) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) -- have purchased over 400 quintals of onions since last Friday at ₹1,235 per quintal as decided by the Union government.
However, Lasalgaon APMC chairman D K Jagtap told HT that the Centre’s initiative is not pushing wholesale prices upward at the district’s mandis.
“The two agencies buy only superior quality onions at ₹1,235 a quintal. However, a farmer can sell such high-quality produce for over ₹1,400-1500 per quintal at the mandis. So a large section of farmers shy away from selling their produce to the two agencies,” said Jagtap.
The onion growers association added that many farmers are reluctant to sell the produce to the two central agencies because the process is cumbersome.
“They have to register themselves with the agencies and produce documents like Aadhaar cards, 7/12 extract etc. Many farmers find the registration process tedious and avoid selling their produce to the two agencies,” said Bharat Dighole, the president of the state onion growers association.
Officials from the two agencies denied that the process is cumbersome. “We follow this process every year during onion procurement. This is done to ensure the amount is credited to the farmers’ accounts,” they said.
Due to widespread resentment among onion farmers over low wholesale prices, two senior opposition leaders, Rohit Pawar of NCP(SP) and Ambadas Danve of Shiv Sena (UBT), staged protests in Nashik and Sambhajinagar on Monday.
Pawar led a tractor rally at Lasalgaon where many onion growers took part. The local Lok Sabha member from NCP(SP) Bhaskar Bhagare, was also present. The agitators staged a sit-in protest in front of the Lasalgaon mandi.
“When the onion production cost for farmers is ₹2,000 per quintal, how can the Centre buy the produce at ₹1,235 per quintal?” Pawar questioned.
He claimed the Centre’s procurement price in 2023 was ₹2,410 per quintal. “While the production costs have increased, it’s baffling that the Union government’s procurement price has come down this year,” he said, demanding that the government buy onions at ₹2,500 per quintal.
In Sambhajinagar, Danve led an agitation on Monday to temporarily block the Samruddhi Expressway near the Jambargaon interchange. He demanded a minimum support price of ₹2,000 per quintal for onions and a subsidy of ₹1,500 per quintal for farmers.
