After hailstorm wrecked havoc on their crops earlier this year, farmers in Lasalgaon—Asia’s largest wholesale market for onions—are once again shedding tears as traders have boycotted the auction of their produce. Led by the Lasalgaon Traders Association (LTA), merchants on Thursday continued to abstain from buying the produce, forcing the hapless farmers to return home with their un-sold produce for the third day running. Many refrained from bringing their stock to the APMC altogether. The losses suffered due to this impasse are estimated to be over Rs. 50 lakh per day. Significantly, the situation in Lasalgaon has a bearing on the price of the edible bulb throughout the country.
The boycott came about after the trader’s association raised objections to the participation of a non-member trader in the auction process. The traders have stipulated that only a member of the LTA should be allowed participation in the auction even as there were no rules imposing that.
As per the rules of the Lasalgaon Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC), onf of the 300 in the State, membership of any association has nothing to do with the auction. Anyone with an APMC license can participate in the auction.
Taking cue of the situation, the Lasalgaon APMC has issued notices to 180 members of the LTA warning them that their licenses will be cancelled if they do not restore the APMC processes soon. “Either way, it’s our loss,” said Bhaskar Jadhav, a farmer-cum-advocate from Nashik.
Onions are sold in bulk quantity and farmers depend on the platform of the APMCs to dispatch their produce.
NAFED and Lasalgaon APMC chairman, Nanasaheb Patil on Thursday evening held a meeting with the traders’ association to resolve the issue but there no word on it. “The traders have some misconceptions and confusions that need to be addressed and the problem should be gone soon,” said an APMC functionary.
The APMCs, which serve as markets where farmers can auction their produce, were introduced to protect them from exploitation of intermediaries and traders. However, its detractors, including the BJP, say they turned into centres of corruption, irregularity and do little for the farmers.
BJP dismisses 166 APMCs
Within weeks of coming into power, the BJP government in Maharashtra has dismissed 166 APMCs in the State. Observers view this move as the BJP’s strategy to cut into the stranglehold of the Congress and the NCP over the cooperatives. A third of the APMCs in Maharashtra are managed by administrative boards led by nominees of the NCP or the Congress, which ruled for 15 years. The BJP government had made it clear that it would not grant extensions to the APMCs whose terms have expired.
