Agricultural experts in the state are blaming lack of foresight in agricultural planning, which they allege has resulted in plummeting onion prices. Farmers in Maharashtra are compelled to sell their onion produce at the rate of 50 paise to Rs 1 per kg against Rs 5-10 per kg due to a glut on the supply side.

Experts opine that the government has the data on cultivation of land, and that the government has a clear idea of how much land will be covered under which crop as well as expected production of particular crops. They say the data should also be available to farmers.

"In case of onion, this year a large chunk of land in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh has come under the onion plantations. In addition, there is an old stock of three lakh tonne onion in Maharashtra alone. Hence they (government) needed to promote export of onion in advance which would have naturally maintained onion prices in domestic markets," said Vijay Jawandia, agriculture expert.

Jawandia said the government should set onion price for export and import. "We allowed traders to import onion from Pakistan and Egypt at lower rates which led domestic onion prices southwards," he said.