Compromise reached, wholesale onion trade to resume in Nashik from tomorrow

Officials have assured that this will be taken up at higher levels. “We also talked to the traders about how it was important for the farmers to sell their stored onion and thus the compromise was reached,” he said.

On Tuesday, the Nashik deputy registrar issued notices to all the APMCs in the district asking them to take steps to resume the trade immediately. The strike by traders had seen the central government press the panic button and the National Cooperative Agricultural Marketing Federation (NAFED) wade in to restart procurement. Around 13 centres for procurement were started by NAFED on Tuesday.

Last week, the central government imposed a 40 per cent export duty on onions to stem the rise in the wholesale price of the bulb. Most farmers and traders have said that the price rise was in response to the lower-than-expected acreage and damage to the stored onion caused by unseasonal hail and rain in March. The traders feel that the imposition of the export duty will have a negative effect on the onion price. Around 40 per cent of the harvest is estimated to have been lost because of quality issues.

Sunil Sonawane, an onion grower from Manjargaon village in Niphad taluka, said the resumption of the trade was a welcome decision. “The central government has also announced that it would procure around 2 lakh tonnes of onion at Rs 2, 410/quintal. We hope to get good prices for our produce,” he said.