Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has written a letter to Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan requesting him to increase the limit for online purchase for National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) in Maharashtra from 40,000 metric tonnes to 50,000 metric tonnes.
"This year the onion growing farmers have seen a good harvest and almost all wholesale markets have a good supply of onions. However, there is a very limited demand due to the lockdown and in such circumstances the wholesale rates for onion have gone down to Rs 8-10 per kg," the letter read.
It further read: "As the next crop is soon expected to reach the markets if the NAFED doesn't purchase their onions on time the prices of onion will fall more. Hence, the Union Minister is requested to increase the present limit for online purchase for NAFED from 40,000 metric tonne to 50,000 metric tonne so that farmers are not forced to bear the losses due to less demand."
He has also said in his letter that it was an injustice to the farmers when the NAFED last year lowered the limit from 45,000 metric tonnes to 40,000 metric tonnes. "However, it is high time for the Centre to increase the limit to 50,000 metric tonnes," he added.