Nafed intervenes to arrest slide of onion prices, to up procurement from Nashik

Suresh Deshmukh, a commission agent operating out of the wholesale market of Dindori in Nashik district, pointed out that all states have reported good yields of the late kharif crop across the country. “Most states have seen an increased area of onion- in fact, we have more than the country can consume. Overseas demand has also stagnated,” he said.

Given this situation, most farmers have started complaining about the low price they are getting in the wholesale markets.

Tukaram Chavan, a farmer from the village of Borgaon in Barshi taluka of the Osmanabad district, recently sold 512 quintals of his produce in the Solapur wholesale market and received a cheque worth only Rs 2.

The transaction slip, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, showed he was paid at a rate of Rs 100/quintal and his total bill had come to Rs 512. But charges of weighing (tolai), labour (hamali) and advance payment of Rs 430 were deducted from his final bill, which saw him being issued a cheque of Rs 2.

Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar raised this issue Sunday and showed a video of Chavan sharing details of his predicament.

The demand for government procurement has grown louder, leading to Nafed’s intervention.

“Nafed has opened limited centres in the district, which will likely go up by Monday. The Centre’s move will provide stability to the onion market. Nafed has also planned to procure Rabi onions from April for buffer stocking. The major procurement takes place in the Nashik district. Farmers are requested to bring their good quality and dried stock to the procurement centres to avail of better rates at these centres. The payment will be made online,” the release read.