Onion markets fail to open after crash

The Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) at Lasalgaon in the district remained closed for the second day on Thursday as farmers did not turn up for the onion auction. The onion- growers in the district are demanding that the State government ban on onion export be lifted, as the prices in the domestic market have crashed. In fact, prices have dropped to as low as Rs 200 to Rs 250 per quintal, the lowest in the past six months, APMC sources said.

While the Pimpalgaon Baswant APMC remained open and auction conducted, with the bulb fetching prices between Rs 600 and Rs 815 per quintal, the farmers blocked the Mumbai- Agra National Highway after prices plummeted. Furious about having to bear the stupendous loss due to sudden crash in prices, farmers created chaos and blocked the busy highway at Pimpalgaon Baswant market yard, demanding remunerative price apart from removing the export ban imposed by the State last month.

In fact, the police had to cane the slogan- shouting farmers, who were protesting against the government.

This was second time that Pimpalgaon farmers have blocked the highway. Similarly, farmers of Lasalgaon, Asia's biggest onion market, have called for a 'kanda pheko andolan' wherein they threw their onion produce on the roads rather than sell it at the market.

Following the two- day strike by onion farmers, the new supply got accumulated in the market yard while the old stock was wasted, mostly due to the export ban. Eventually, onion prices crashed on Tuesday, the price of average quality onion was Rs 400 a quintal.

On Wednesday, the minimum price further crashed to Rs 200 a quintal, with a maximum of Rs 900 a quintal at Lasalgaon, Pimpalgaon (B), Manmad and Chandwad. At Umrane, the auction did not even began.

Demanding the need for a firm policy to preserve the benefit of both customers as well as farmers, NAFED Vice- President Changdeorao Holkar said, they would talk to the Centre regarding the export ban on January 25. " It has become necessary to remove the ban, as the onion supply is more than the demand to a large extent," added President of Nashik District Traders Association Sohanlal Bhandari.