Maha onion farmers to get Rs 150-cr relief

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Cabinet on Thursday approved special financial assistance of Rs 150 crore to onion-producing farmers. This will be given as an ex gratia payment of Rs 200 per quintal with an upper limit of 200 quintals per farmer on the condition that the farmer must have sold onions between November 1 and December 15, 2018. The state government thinks that this scheme will be applied to total 75 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of the bulb.

The decision came amid reports about Maharashtra farmers selling freshly harvested onions at as low as Rs 1.50 a kilogram.

The sharp fall in onion rates in the retail markets of Nashik district has sparked an agitation there. This has put pressure on the state government to act in an urgent manner.

Principal secretary (agricultural marketing) Anoop Kumar said the decision will be applicable to 75 lakh metric tonne of onions. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis asked the officials concerned to preparing a comprehensive policy for onions.

Nashik guardian minister Girish Mahajan, highlighting the seriousness of the situation, said, “Onion-growing farmers are facing the problem of price. We are concerned about the situation. This financial aid will be given immediately. This will go to about 75 lakh MT.”

The Opposition, however, is not satisfied with the Maharashtra government’s decision. “Rs 200 per quintal means Rs 2 per kilogram. Our farmers need to take the crop to various markets. The transport allowance needs to be increased. The state government is not helping farmers. Rather, it is rubbing salt in their wounds,” said former guardian minister of Nashik Chhagan Bhujbal.

Last month, farmer Sanjay Sathe, from Nashik district, had sent his onion sale earnings of Rs 1,064, after selling 750 kg of his produce in a wholesale market, to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as a protest. The PMO had later returned the farmer’s money order.

The farmer had said his intention was to prompt the government to take some steps to ease the financial stress that farmers were suffering because of the low prices. Another farmer from Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district, Shreyas Abhale, had sent a money order of Rs 6 to Mr Fadnavis as a mark of protest against the crashing prices of onion and the paltry returns. Abhale had said that after selling 2,657 kg onions at the rate of Rs 1 per kg at the Sangamner wholesale market in the district and adjusting market expenses, he was left with only Rs 6.