Nagpur: Onions continue to be a sniper for farmers for a month. Apart from growers in western Maharashtra districts like Nashik and Dhule, even those in Vidarbha have been affected by falling prices.
The produce is sold for Rs3 to Rs5 per kg straight from the fields in areas like Buldhana, Amravati and Akola. Farmers say the lower quality even fetches 50 paise to a few rupees per kilo. At the Farm Produce Marketing Committee yard at Kalamna in Nagpur, the price is Rs 9-10 per kg, but for the best quality. Inferior quality is sold very cheaply, traders say.
Farmers incurred an expense of Rs 1.60 to Rs 2 per kg to bring the produce to Kalamna, traders say. Retail vendors sell onions for Rs15 to Rs20 per kg.
A national glut has driven prices down. To make matters worse, even exports have been hampered due to the war in Ukraine, traders say. The conflict has resulted in a shortage of containers carrying almost three times the freight.
Even if there is no export ban, it is not feasible at the present time. Had exports been allowed, it would have helped push up domestic rates, traders say.
The Shetkari Sangathana Farmers Organization plans to organize Kanda Parishad at Yeola in Nashik, which is a major center of onion production. “We will take up our demands as the complete dismantling of government intervention in the onion trade. There is no need for help if rates crash and neither should the government intervene if onion rates skyrocket,” said Lalit Bahalle, a leader of Shetkari Sangathana. He also agreed that the container shortage will hit exports.
Desperate farmers have started stockpiling the produce, building chambers in villages in hopes of selling the stock when rates improve. Kanda Chali, as they are called in the local lingo, the structures are mostly made of bamboo.
Vasudev Khanderao from Akoli Jangir village in Akola district said that after getting around R5 per kg for his produce, he decided not to sell the onions anymore. “The onions can be stored until the rains, but that involves costs and not everyone can afford it,” he says.
In the villages, onion prices are fixed at two quintals. “For some grades, 2,000 rupees means 3.30 rupees per kg,” says Khanderao.
Bipin Agarwal in Amravati says he preferred an early variety which was harvested in February when prices were better. The majority of farmers in his pocket have switched to the late variety and are facing losses due to low prices. “A number of them have started to stock the products, but it comes at a cost. Every fortnight the stock should be turned over by removing rotting onions. It eventually becomes useless in large quantities,” he says.
The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) has started buying onions under the price stabilization fund in Nashik, Dhule, Jalgaon and Pune. Shetkari Sangathana alleged that there was a lack of transparency in the procurement system. The work has been entrusted by NAFED to certain companies of agricultural producers. “With chances that even traders will sell their stock, it has been required that all details of purchases, including names, be uploaded to the APMC website,” says Anil Ghanvat, Chairman of Sangathana. There is no NAFED shopping in Vidarbha.