Nasik farmers angry at government’s decision to ban onion exports

NASIK - Farmers have expressed their discontentment with the Central Government decision in Nasik to ban export of onions.

The Union Agriculture Ministry on Monday banned exports until January 15, and has begun importing onions from Pakistan.

Agitated farmers said stopping exports would worsen their condition.

“Because of the rain last time, all our crops of onions were destroyed. Due to this we can see so much of price hike. But even if onions are less, even then nobody comes to us,” said Deepak Shirsat, a farmer.

“The government should intervene but they stopped the export of onions and because of that the rates have come down. All this the government should take care of, and should help farmers as much as it can,” he added.

“We demand from government that at least they should not stop export, so that we can at least get something. If this rate and condition continues, then no farmers on our side would grow onions,” said Shivaji Parsuram More, another farmer.

Raju Pardesi, a wholesale trader, added that importing onions from Pakistan would reduce prices further, which will deteriorate the condition of the farmers even more.

The price of onions shot up to rupees 80 per kilogram in New Delhi on Monday, while at other places it had skyrocketed to as much as rupees 100.

The Centre government had announced that the National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) would purchase onions directly from farmers. This would eliminate middlemen and traders.

The rate hike is attributed to shortage of stocks in the wholesale market.

A week ago, onions were being sold between rupees 30 and 45 per kilogram in retail markets. By Nitin Chandramore (ANI)