Low response to NCCF’s onion procurement centres

Dinesh Pathak

LOKMAT NEWS NETWORK

Nashik, Jan 31

Managing Director of National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India Limited (NCCF) Anice Joseph Chandra (Delhi) had informed that 2,00,000 metric tonnes of onion will be procured from Maharashtra through NCCF and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED), in December 2023 itself. However, her claim has proved wrong as only 60,000 metric tonnes of onions have been procured from the state.

NCCF has closed its onion procurement centres in the state for four days as the onion farmers, who were already frustrated due to the export ban, turned their backs on NCCF and NAFED's onion procurement centres. The claim that the NCCF procurement centres are open is also false. Officials are hopeful that more onions will arrive. Onion procurement was started in November from Ahmednagar, Dhule, Pune, Solapur, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar districts along with Nashik. However, the farmers have complained that the centres were often locked. The farmers' organisations have also raised their grievances with the union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal in this regard.

Onion procurement centres of NCCF at Pimpalgaon Baswant and Vinchur in Nashik are closed, while ten onion centres in Ahmednagar, three in Pune, two in Jalgaon, and other places are also closed for four to five days. A few centres were closed due to the two-day holiday, as well as poor response. Senior NCCF official M Parikshit said that the procurement centres will start again.

Info

85 percent onion from Nashik

Onion procurement centres of NCCF and NAFED have collected 85 percent of onion from Nashik, according to NCCF official M Pariskshit. Only 5000 metric tonnes of onions have been collected from Ahmednagar centre followed by 3000 to 4000 metric tonnes of onion from the centres at Pune and Jalgaon districts.

Info

Reason for low response from farmers

Onions brought at NCCF and NAFED procurement centres were in low quantity. That is why even 50 percent of the target could not be achieved. Many reasons were revealed for this. Onion prices are not fixed as per the demand of farmers, prices are not paid more than Rs 1200 per tonne, and lack of coordination between concerned officials and farmers, as well as often closed procurement centres are some of the reasons.

Info

Rates tumble again

Due to the ban on exports, onion prices have been continuously falling for two months, and on Tuesday, January 29, onion was sold at an average rate of only Rs 900 to 1100 per quintal. Farmers were once again angry as the price fell by Rs 200. Maharashtra State Onion Farmers' Association has repeatedly demanded lifting of the export ban, but the government is ignoring it. It has also affected the procurement centres of NCCF and NAFED.