As record crop production has resulted in a sharp fall in onion prices, farmers have demanded that the Centre should buy onion at a fair price of Rs 12 per kilo so that their production cost is recove
As record crop production has resulted in a sharp fall in onion prices, farmers have demanded that the Centre should buy onion at a fair price of Rs 12 per kilo so that their production cost is recovered.
Due to the rise in production, the Centre and state governments have decided to procure onion on a 50-50 basis to provide relief to farmers. However, Shetkari Kruti Samiti (SKS) has said that farmers are already facing losses due to excess production.
To offset this, they should be given a fair price of Rs 12 per kilo so that their production cost is recovered, SKS officials said. The state government should send a proposal to the Centre on these lines, they added.
With the possibility of inflation in onion prices during August-September, the National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed), under the Centre’s price stabilisation funds scheme, had procured 7,000 metric tonnes of onions from farmers at the rate of Rs 850 per quintal.
Taking into account all production factors, the Nafed has estimated the cost of onion at Rs 1,500 per quintal.
Considering it as a standard rate, the farmers are also expected to get minimum Rs 1,250 per quintal.
Only then would they be able to recover the production cost, said Prakash Gangurde from SKS.
“As per the Centre’s direction, we have procured onion, which is now lying in the warehouses of Lasalgaon and Pimpalgaon. The Nafed has also made enquiries about selling the onion to other states. But offering the fair price to farmers is the state government’s job,” said Nanasaheb Patil, director, Nafed.
While sending the proposal to the Centre, the state government should make it clear that onion is to be procured under the Market Intervention Scheme or the Price Stabilisation Fun, SKS officials said.
