MUMBAI: After the Centre imposed a 40% hike in onion export duty on Saturday in a bid to control the price in the domestic market and keep the supply steady, onion farmers and traders in Maharashtra agitated by suspending auction of the produce in markets in Nashik, one of largest onion producing pockets in the country, and Ahmednagar. Fifteen wholesale markets in Nashik, including Lasalgaon -- Asia’s biggest onion market -- were closed Monday. Thane, India - August, 21, 2023: at thane union market, Farmers are angry after central government increased export duty by 40% and stopped onion exports and onion is likely to become expensive in the coming days. , in Thane, in Mumbai, India, on,Monday, August, 21, 2023. ( Praful Gangurde / HT Photo )

The decision for the indefinite agitation was taken in a meeting of the Nashik District Onion Traders Association (NDOTA) on Sunday, confirmed Khandu Deore, the body’s president.

Heavy duty on exports translates to a dent in prices expected by farmers in the domestic market. Balasaheb Kamathe, one of the traders at Lasalgaon, said, “Large quantities of onions are exported from the APMC to neighbouring countries. The demand-supply chain will be affected when the new mandate comes into effect. Hence, we have decided to close the market for 15 days,” said Kamathe. The shutdown will impact the supply across the country. Maharashtra accounts for around 40 percent of the total produce in the country.

The rate of onion in Nashik district’s wholesale market on Monday was ₹2150 per quintal. The average price is known to swing between ₹2000- ₹2500 per quintal at any given point of time.

The farmers’ resistance has elicited differences in views from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies in state. While union minister Bharati Pawar justified the Centre’s decision, ministers from the Ajit Pawar faction of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) as well as Shiv Sena favoured higher prices demanded by onion farmers.

The state agriculture minister Dhananjay Munde, who called the “Centre’s decision unfair”, will be in Delhi on Tuesday to meet union commerce minister Piyush Goyal and union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar to discuss the issue. Munde said, “I assure all the onion growers a reduction in the export duty.” Extending his support to the farmers, food and civil supplies minister Chhagan Bhujbal said “a rollback” was imperative.

Bharati Pawar however argued, “There is no ban on the sale – the government has imposed some duties to prevent a price rise similar to that of tomatoes. If there’s demand within the country, prices won’t fall in the domestic market.”

The Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha (ABKS), a farmers’ outfit, urged the agrarian community to extend their agitation across the state by shutting down auctions across markets, while the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS) blocked the Shirdi-Surat Highway, demanding a rollback. When activists from SSS met NCP president Sharad Pawar in Pune on Monday, Pawar assured them that he will bring up the issue for discussion at the Mumbai meeting of I.N.D.I.A. scheduled on September 1.

BJP’s ally Shiv Sena and Rayat Kranti Sanghatana (RKS) too slammed the Centre’s decision. Shiv Sena legislator and public works (public undertakings) minister Dada Bhuse said in half-jest, “If onion prices go up by ₹25- ₹30 per kg, those who cannot not afford it should not eat it for two to four months; nothing will happen if they do so.” He assured farmers in the state that the prices will not dip.

RKS chief Sada Khot said, “Whenever farmers start getting good prices for their produce, the central government intervenes by tweaking the policy of import and export. This happens in all governments, who are out to loot the farmers.”

Meanwhile, a section of farmers are not keen on suspending the auction completely for long. Bharat Dighole, president of the Maharashtra State Onion Growers Association, said, “While the traders association at APMC Lasalgaon has decided to close down the market for 15 days, the onion growers do not want to do so. The opposition on the hike in export rates should be done jointly by the traders and farmers on the one hand, while farmers should be allowed to sell their produce alongside, as onions are perishable and farmers cannot hold large stocks for an extended period. We have given our memorandum of demands to immediately cancel this decision to the APMC chairman, but none of the traders came along with us,” said Dighole.

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