Sharad Pawar slams govt’s onion export curbs, focus on organic farming and desi cattle breeds

Pawar noted that while he had nothing against the ruling BJP-led government’s “thinking” that prices of essential commodities should come down, “it is equally important to focus on cost of production and remunerative prices” for farmers.

Onions growers, according to him, made some money only in “15 days to two months” of the year, while in the remaining 9-10 months, the prices they got hardly recovered production costs. The previous UPA regime and also the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra had provided capital subsidies to farmers for creation of on-farm storage structures. These structures, typically of 25-50 tonnes capacity and costing a couple of lakhs, enabled growers to take advantage of higher prices in the lean season during July-August, just before the new kharif crop arrived in the market.

The Centre, last Saturday, raised the minimum export price for onions from $ 425 to $ 700 per tonne, making it virtually impossible to ship out any consignments. This came even as retail prices in most urban centres crossed Rs 60 per kg and wholesale rates at Maharashtra’s Lasalgaon market soared from around Rs 3,100 to Rs 5,700 per quintal over the current month alone. Subsequently, though, they have dropped to Rs 4,850 per quintal levels.

Pawar admitted that similar bans were imposed even during UPA rule on exports of onion, sugar and milk powder, among other commodities. But these were “temporary”, which is unlikely to be the case now given the predominant “thinking” within this government. “My worry is that (such actions) will also affect production not today, but in the years to come as farmers will shift from onions to other crops”, he added.

In his interview, Pawar also criticised the Maharashtra government banning slaughter of all cattle (including bulls, bullocks and calves), while being skeptical over the new focus on organic agriculture and rearing of indigenous cow breeds.

“Farmers are not happy with the banning. What will they do with the animals that are not useful”, he stated, adding that “organic farming will not solve the issue of hunger” and “the country’s real milk (production) problem has been solved by Holstein and Jersey types of cows, not traditional cows”.