Farmers Are Crying Over Onions in Maharashtra

“Onions make you cry when you cut them! 
Also, at times when you grow them?” 

Its fire sale time in Maharashtra. On January 4, the minimum price for the old onions was ₹100 per quintal as against ₹251 in early December and the pole/red onions traded for as low as ₹300 per quintal. 

The onions whose shelf life is soon to end are not just being sold for as low as ₹100 a quintal but an extra quintal for every quintal is sold. Buy one get one policy is in force not just to liquidate the stocks but also to prevent the prices from sliding further. After all, how far can it slide beyond ₹1 per kg! 

Three crops of onion are grown in the state. The crop sown in June-July and harvested post-September is the kharif crop, while the late kharif crop is planted post-October and harvested December onwards. The rabi crop is sown in December-January and harvested post-March. 
The griming truth is that the crop harvested in March hasn’t been sold yet. Media reports suggesting that onion prices will shoot up led to hoarding by the farmers and the current glut in the market is the outcome. 

Jaydutt Holkar, the Chairman of the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) at Lasalgaon, the largest onion producing region in the state, shares that the farmers are keen on doing away with the old crops to create storage space for the new onion soon to be harvested.