The rural economy of most of the tehsils of Nashik district is in danger due to the ‘onion effect’, which may cause bankruptcy for farmers, market experts and farmers have said.
The onion price decline shows no sign of stopping, and farmers are bringing in 50 per cent spoilt onion and are willing to sell at any price. On the other hand, traders are unwilling to buy any stock as they already have their hands full, and there is no demand for this tuber crop. “This price downslide now and possible shortages in future will continue regularly until the government finalises an onion policy, stated Chandwad APMC chief Dr Atmaram Kumbharde.
He said that the condition of farmers was very bad at present and most were on the verge of bankruptcy. “This crop has been harvested by April this year and stored. During storage, the tuber loses moisture and weight goes down.
“It costs around Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 per acre but under the present circumstances the farmers are getting between Rs 10,000 to Rs 30,000 per acre, which is a 50 per cent loss,” farmer and spices dealer Sunil Khade said.
“Secondly, the spoilage is about 50 per cent, which means the farmers are selling only 25 percent of their harvest,” he further added.
Mr Khade said he was forced to deal in masala as farming was unviable.
“Some months back,” recalled Dr Kumbharde, “the traders refused to purchase loose onions and demanded it be packed in sacks. ... (this) continued for one and half months, (due to which) the onion weight reduced and some crop got spoiled.”
“Later the government held high-level meetings to decide fair price for onion farmers. These meetings and the ambiguous situation continued for 22 days. Hoping for a better price, farmers did not bring their onion for sale. When the government did not take a decision, there was heavy rush last week by farmers to sell off their onion. This caused a further downslide in price. The present prices are between Rs 100 to Rs 300 per quintal in all APMCs in Nashik district,” he said.
