NASHIK, JAN 3: Chaos prevailed in the onion wholesale marketyard at Lasalgaon on Monday with the arrival of a record 1,500 tractor trailors of the commodity led to prices crashing to an average of Rs 226 per quintal.Annoyed farmers, expecting the State Government to procure onions for Rs 300 to Rs 350 per quintal as announced from January 1, boycotted auctions indefinitely and staged a rasta roko. The Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC), which had received 74,217 quintals of onions over the past whole week, on Monday received over 45,000 quintals of the commodity in a single day, as farmers had lined up their tractor trailors (each carrying about 30 quintals each) since the last weekend.The State Government had announced that it would buy onions for Rs 300 (of 20 to 40 mm size) and Rs 350 (export quality of over 40 mm size) from January 1, to provide relief to farmers. However, the government has not yet started buying onions and the exercise would begin from on Tuesday,when Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal would buy the first lot in Chandwad APMC.The farmers, eager to sell their produce to the Government lined up their tractor trailors at all the APMCs in the onion growing region from Saturday, when the markets closed for the weekend. When the Lasalgaon market opened the next day when the government failed to pick up products, prices ranged from Rs 198 to Rs 246 per quintal, averaging at Rs 226 per quintal.The farmers boycotted the auctions and staged a rasta roko at around 9.45 am demanding a higher price from the traders, who refused to give in to the farmers demand. The agitation continued for three hours, after which the farmers decided to boycott the auctions till the Government started buying the commodity in Lasalgaon.In the Pimpalgaon-Baswant marketyard, wholesale prices ranged from Rs 240 to Rs 270 per quintal. The market received 1,200 tractor trailors on Monday. All the APMCs in the onion growing belt of Nashik have been flooded with onionsas a result of a bumper harvest.
