Farmers in Maharastra demand higher prices of onions
The price of onions in India has a huge dip. Farmers in Maharastra are protesting against the free fall of onion prices and are demanding high prices. The farmers set to march 200km (124 miles) to Mumbai. The price of onions per quintal recently dropped from Rs 1,100-1,150 in early February to Rs 550 and at present, it is between Rs 650 and Rs 770. In recent weeks after the free fall of onion prices, incidents of farmers burning or throwing away onions have been reported.
“There is a bumper crop of red onions in the market now. This is the prime reason for the fall in onion prices. This is a perishable crop, so it does not come under the minimum price Act. The state government has set up a committee to find solutions to the issues faced by onion growers. The committee has suggested extending financial help to the farmers,” Maharashtra Chief minister Eknath Shinde, speaking in the Legislative Assembly, said.
“The state government has decided to accept the upper ceiling of financial assistance. The farmers will get Rs 300 per quintal as special aid from the state government,” Shinde said.
India is the major exporter of onions after china and Maharastra is among the prime producer. According to the officials the reason for the recent crash the states of “Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Rajasthan are also harvesting onions.
