Government on onion farmers’ side: Maharashtra CM Shinde

National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited had started onion procurement and that would push the prices up, the CM said

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. | Photo Credit: PTI

Amid reports of falling prices of onions in the wholesale market across Maharashtra, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday said that the current dispensation stood firmly with the onion farmers and financial help would be provided, if required.

Speaking in the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Shinde said NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited) had started onion procurement and that would push the prices up.

He said that so far NAFED had procured 2.38 lakh tons of onion directly from farmers. “They have increased the procurement and in case there is no procurement centre in a particular area, it (NAFED) will be opened,” the Chief Minister said, adding that there was no ban on the export of onions.

According to reports, the price of the bulb crashed to ₹2 or ₹3 per kilogram (depending on the quality of the product) on Monday, at Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee, Nashik. As a result, the farmers stopped the auction and staged a protest.

Earlier, Nationalist Congress Party leader and legislator, Chhagan Bhujbal, said that there was a huge demand for Indian onion in countries like Turkiye, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Morocco, Uzbekistan and Belarus.

“We must export onion so that it benefits our farmers,” the leader from Nashik district said. He also questioned the Centre’s policy over onion.

Meanwhile, the Legislative Council was adjourned for the day after the Leader of the Opposition Ambadas Danve demanded a discussion on falling onion prices.

In the afternoon, the Leader of the Opposition and NCP MLA, Ajit Pawar, said that the government had spent a whopping ₹40 crore to ₹42 crore of taxpayers’ money on Mr. Shinde’s two-and-half-day visit to Davos to attend the World Economic Forum in January.   

Mr. Pawar said that the government had changed the names of Aurangabad and Osmanabad towns to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv, respectively, but failed to change the district names.

Both Aurangabad and Osmanabad, are towns as well as district headquarters.