Maharashtra farmer travels 70km to sell 512kg onions, gets cheque for Rs 2

KOLHAPUR/NASHIK: Rajendra Tukaram Chavan, a 58-year-old onion farmer from Borgaon village of Barshi taluka in Solapur district, recently travelled 70km to the Solapur APMC to auction 512kg of onions he had harvested. He managed to sell the produce for just Re 1 per kg.

After all the deductions, Chavan's net profit was barely Rs 2.49 and he received the payment as a post-dated cheque for Rs 2, which he will be able to encash only after 15 days. The 49 paise balance was not reflected in the cheque as bank transactions are usually in round figures. To claim this balance, Chavan will have to directly take it from the trader, but the farmer feels it is not worth the effort.

"I got Re 1 per kg for the onions. The APMC trader further deducted Rs 509.50 from the total amount of Rs 512 towards transportation charges, head-loading and weighing fees," a dejected Chavan said, pointing out that he had managed to earn Rs 20 per kg last year.
"The price of seeds, fertilisers and pesticides has doubled in the past 3-4 years. I spent almost Rs 40,000 to grow just about 500kg of onions this time," he said.

Explaining the logic behind issuing a post-dated cheque for Rs 2, Nasir Khalifa, the trader at the Solapur APMC who bought the onions from Chavan, said, "We have computerised the process of issuing receipts and cheques. As a result, Chavan's cheque was post-dated. This is a common practice regardless of the amount on the cheque. We have issued cheques of such small amounts earlier too."
"The onions brought for auction were of low quality. Earlier, Chavan had brought high-quality onions that were sold at Rs 18 per kg. He later brought another batch, which fetched him Rs 14 per kg. Low-quality onions are usually not in demand," said Khalifa, the owner of Surya Traders. The cheque was issued by one of his relatives from whose bank account Surya Traders-related transactions are done.

According to experts, farmers do not get more than 25% high-quality produce. Roughly 30% of the produce is of medium quality and the remaining is low grade.
A bumper onion crop in Maharashtra and all other onion-producing states has sent wholesale prices crashing. Across the state, farmers like Chavan are spectical of even recovering their production costs. Wholesale onion prices at Nashik's Lasalgaon APMC, the country's largest onion mandi, have dropped almost 70% in the past two months.

However, farmers have no option but to sell the produce at the prevailing rates because the shelf-life of the late kharif onions is just about a month. Thereafter, the produce starts rotting. Since all the farmers bring their crops to the market, there is a glut.
The volume of onions arriving at the Lasalgaon market, which was around 15,000 quintal a day in December, has now doubled to 30,000 quintals a day. The average wholesale onion prices at Lasalgaon dropped from Rs 1,850 per quintal on December 26, 2022, to Rs 550 per quintal on February 23, 2023.
It is the same story across the state. Kedar Umbaraje, the Solapur APMC director who is also an onion trader, said: "The day the Barshi farmer brought his onions, the APMC was flooded with 12,000 bags of onion."

A couple of weeks ago, the Borgaon gram panchayat wrote to the state government seeking its intervention. The letter also sought compensation for the losses incurred by onion growers and an assured price for the produce in future. The gram panchayat members, most of them farmers themselves, threatened to immolate themselves if their concerns were not addressed. Two weeks on, they are yet to receive any communication from the government.
Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana chief Raju Shetti too wants answers. "How is the government going to stop farmers, who are not getting a decent price for their produce, from ending lives? We demand that the excess onions be exported. In the name of controlling inflation, the government is taking steps that are pushing farmers further into distress," he said.
In an acknowledgement of the problem, Union minister of state for health and family welfare Bharati Pawar, who is an MP from Dindori, Nashik's onion growing belt, wrote to Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal urging him to ensure that National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (Nafed) increases onion procurement to help stabilise the wholesale prices. Nashik district guardian minister Dada Bhuse too is pinning hopes on Nafed. He said the state government will request the central government agency to start procuring onions from the farmers.