Mumbai: More bad news for onion farmers in Maharashtra. Onion prices at Maharashtra's largest wholesale market plunged.
Four farmers have already committed suicide, as a bumper harvest has brought prices down and the government has done little to help.
Lost hopes and shattered dreams – that is the story told by these faces. Prices at India's largest onion market plunged to an unbelievable 10 paise per kg – that is Rs 10 per quintal. For the farmers, it is a loss of nearly Rs 500 for each quintal sold.
Onion farmer Altaf Patel says, “The supply of onions both in Maharashtra and elsewhere in the country has been very good. So the prices have fallen down considerably."
Onion farmers across Maharashtra have seen prices gradually reducing to an unsustainable level after a bumper crop. Four farmers have already committed suicide in the last two weeks and this fall will only make matters worse.
It is not just farmers, onion traders haven't been spared. The stocks of onions lining every stockpile in this mandi tell a hapless tale. And needless to add, there are no takers for rotting onions.
"Earlier we had to spend Rs 13,000 for transportation but now we have to pay Rs 21-22,000. Hence, even though onion prices have gone down, we incur loss," says Mangaldas Thankkar, onion trader.
The Maharashtra government promised Rs 30 crore relief package for onion farmers last week. But that could be too little, too late. Unless the government looks beyond ad hoc measures, onion farmers could follow in the footsteps of Maharashtra’s cotton growers.
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