By Express News Service
KURNOOL: Wholesale prices of onion have crashed to a new low at the Kurnool Agriculture Market Yard following a bumper harvest coupled with low demand, leaving farmers in tears. Nearly 40 lorries and 300 tractors carrying onions have been arriving at the Kurnool Agriculture Market daily for the past 15 days. Onion is cultivated in 25,000 hectares in the district.
After transporting the produce to the market in rented vehicles, the farmers, coming to know that the prices have dipped, do not know whether to sell the produce at the rate as announced by the Market Yard authorities or take them back. Some of the farmers angered at the MSP announced have dumped their onion produce on road.
Farmers from Bellary, Raichur, Siriguppa and other parts of Karnataka and Mahabubnagar district of Telangana State are sending their produce to Kurnool market. Nearly 8,000 quintals of onions are arriving here and 6,000 quintals are sent to Kolkata and Hyderabad, resulting in 28,000 quintals of onion stock remaining unsold.
On Thursday, several farmers who have been waiting for a week to sell their produce were angered with the State government for not responding to their issues. The irate farmers arrived on the RTC bus station road, near the market yard, along with their produce and dumped it on the road. The Left parties staged a one-day ‘deeksha’ to support the farmers at Sri Krishnadevaraya Circle in the city. AP Rythu Sangam State president P Ramachandraiah asked the government to purchase onion directly from the farmers and announce an MSP between `1,500 and `2,000 per quintal.
