Resentment among farmers over procurement of only high-quality onions

Umrane, Oct 1

As there is no solution to the indefinite strike called by the onion traders in the district for the past 11 days, in a meeting held in Delhi on Friday, September 29, the union government has announced the purchase of another 2,00,000 metric tonnes of onion through National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED) and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF). However, since only high-quality onions will be procured through NAFED and NCCF, and that too is limited to 2,00,000 metric tonnes, confusion has arisen among onion farmers about the remaining degraded onions.

In order to avoid shortage in the future and to control the price rise, the union government has procured 3,00,000 metric tonnes of onion through NAFED and NCCF in the last two to three months. As the procured onion is being sold in the market at a lower price, the demand for the onion bought by the traders at a higher price has decreased in the market. As a result, the traders had to suffer huge losses. Onion traders in the district have started an indefinite strike in the demand that the government cancel the 40 percent export duty, that onion purchased by NAFED should be sold in ration instead of the open market. They have halted the onion auctions.

Also, as the farmers have been storing onions for the last four to five months, the quality has declined. Therefore, if the onion is not purchased by NAFED, confusion has arisen as to what will happen to the stored onion. Therefore, there is not much enthusiasm among the onion-producing farmers for this announcement by the government.

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Few people benefit from the purchase of NAFED. Therefore, NAFED should purchase onions from all farmers without discrimination.

Balasaheb Deore, Farmer