Prices of onions crash by 80%, farmers protest in Lasalgaon

With onion prices crashing by nearly 80% in the last two months following a bumper supply, farmers at Lasalgaon in Nasik district, the biggest onion market in the

With onion prices crashing by nearly 80% in the last two months following a bumper supply, farmers at Lasalgaon in Nasik district, the biggest onion market in the country, staged a protest on Monday.

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In February, the crop was priced at ₹7-14 per kilo in the Lasalgaon Agricultural Produce and Marketing Committee (AMPC), a drop of 80% from its cost of ₹50-70 per kilo in December. To protest against this price crash, onion farmers halted auctions at Lasalgaon on Monday and staged a ‘rasta roko’ demanding that the Centre start onion exports immediately.

In mid-December 2019, onion prices had crossed the ₹80/kg mark in the wholesale market, pushing its retail price over ₹120/kg. In just two months, this picture turned on its head as supply to Laslagaon increased to 16,500 quintals on Monday from 4,074 quintals in November 2019.

On February 26, Ram Vilas Paswan, Union minister of food and consumer affairs, had tweeted that the government has decided to lift the ban on export of onions. An official circular on the same was issued on Monday confirming export would start from March 15.

Bharat Dighole, chairman of Maharashtra State Onion Growers Association, who led the farmers’ protest said they would wait before taking further action. “After March 15 we will declare our future course of action,” he said. Last September, the Centre had imposed a ban on export of onions in a bid to tame prices.