With onion prices plummeting, farmers in Maharashtra’s Nashik district have begun an agitation and warned that they will “intensify” it if the Union and State governments fail to help them.   

The agitated farmers gathered on Monday at the regional office in Nashik’s Yeola town to demand government intervention in preventing a fall in onion prices. One of the farmers said, “ Do they pay the same amount at the hair cutting saloon for cutting your hair that you paid ten years ago? The answer is no. But we are getting the same price for our crop which we used to get ten years ago”.  

Farmers said in the last couple of years, unseasonal rains and rising prices of pesticides and fertilisers have added to the woes of onion growers in Nashik, one of the major onion-producing districts in India. 

“We are selling onion at ₹ 7-8 per kg while the production cost has already crossed ₹19-20 per kg. We are suffering heavy losses and you will witness farmer suicides in the region,” said farmers while talking to the media. Farmers have demanded that the Maharashtra government must provide grants to them to make up losses incurred due to low prices. Farmers have also demanded that the Union government must come out with a concrete import-export policy on onion.  

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Onion farmers in Maharashtra irked by NAFED’s procurement mechanism

Agitating farmers questioned the Union government and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) policies and pricing of the bulb. Farmers said those who decide onion procurement rate for NAFED were not aware of the ground reality and that’s why the central agency is procuring onion at low prices.  

Various farmers’ organizations have joined hands to support onion farmers who have threatened to intensify their agitation if the governments fail to fulfill their demands. 

 

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