Onion farmers wail over meagre prices of produce

Rajkot: There was ruckus between farmers and traders at the Rajkot market yard on Wednesday over low price of onions and in absence of auction process in name of maintaining social distancing.

The farmers have also alleged that the traders were taking advantage of the situation of no auction and purchasing onions at lower rate but selling the produce at double the rate to wholesalers.

On Wednesday the price of onion in the marketing yard came down to Rs 2-5 per kg.

As against arrival of 4,000 bags (of 50kg each) during normal days, only 500 bags are allowed in the Rajkot market yard under the government’s guidelines to maintain social distancing. Farmers from Rajkot, Lodhika, Padadhir, Dhoraji and Upleta taluka come to sell their onion at Rajkot market yard.

Dilip Sakhiya, president of Bhartiya Kisan Sangh Rajkot alleged, “The traders are paying Rs 80-150 per bag (weighing 50-55kg) and selling it to the wholesalers in the same market yard at Rs 350 per bag. This is an open loot.”

The members of Bhartiya Kisan Sangh also submitted a memorandum to Rajkot district collector with demand that government must procure onion at minimum support price (MSP) from the farmers. They also demanded relaxation in export of onion so that farmers can get good price.

Deepak Limbasia, a farmer who came to sell his onions said, “We can’t recover our input cost. I spend Rs 21,000 per bigha for onion cultivation and in return I am getting Rs 14,000. I also have to add cost of jute bags and transportation in my cost.”

Rajkot market yard chairman D K Sakhiya said, “Auction cannot be allowed under the government’s Covid-19 guidelines. If more people would gather here we will be forced to close the yard. Yes, the farmers are not getting adequate price. I have requested the government to pay Rs 2 subsidy to farmers to recover some of their cost.”