Farmers unable to cash in on high onion prices

PUNE: After the consumers, it’s now the turn of onion farmers in Maharashtra to shed tears. Though the prices are high, many farmers could not benefit from the surge as they lost a major portion of their produce to rains and paid more for seed.

Arrivals have dropped in several mandis. Despite the sky-rocketing prices, farmer income in 2010 is less than what it was in the previous year. Onion farmers in Maharashtra lost close to 20% of the crop to intense heat in the summer. ET was the first to report this loss and its likely impact on prices in September-October 2010. The kharif crop of onion was further damaged by the unseasonal rains which continued till November in the state.

“My net earning from an acre of rabi onion crop in 2008-2009 was more than `60,000 when the onion prices were in the range of `800-1,000 per quintal. But, I could get only `20,000 net earning from the 2009-10 rabi crop as 50% of the stored onion was rotted due to high temperature,” said Pandurang Khairnar, an onion grower from Satana taluka in Nashik district. Shetkari Sanghatana founder Sharad Joshi said, “The highest onion price of `60 per kg last week barely covered the cost of production of farmers. The crop in Nashik suffered due to unseasonal rains. The cost of onion production was `60 per quintal three decades ago. But today, it is `60 per kg.”

“We are not demanding any subsidy from the government. We just want to get the production cost based on the market price for our produce,” said Jagdish Pawar, director of Vikas Sahakari Society, from village Pimpalgaon near Malegaon.
Meanwhile, wholesale onion prices in Maharashtra increased by about `100 per quintal as arrivals dwindled. The average price at Lasalgaon was `1,700 per quintal while at other markets like Manmad, Jalgaon and Pimpalgaon, the average onion price was around `2,100 per quintal.

It appears that more trouble awaits onion farmers in 2011 as Maharashtra farmers have lost more than 35% of the seedlings. “I lost half of my nursery. So,I will have to grow onion only on 20 guntas, instead of my regular area of one acre,” said Mr Khairnar from Satana.