Maharashtra government announces Rs 150 crore compensation package for onion farmers

Maharashtra state cabinet today announced a Rs 150 crore compensation scheme for onion farmers, who sold onions between November 1 to December 15.

As prices fell to as low as Rs 1/kg due to oversupply in the market, farmers couldn’t recover even the cost of transporting onion from farm to the markets. As most of the onion sold at throw away prices during past few months belonged to the stores stocks, which the farmers were carrying from past six months, they had to bear complete losses.

“The compensation would be available to farmers at the rate of Rs 200/quintal for a maximum quantity of 200 quintals per farmer,” announcement the government.


Though the government has said that the scheme will be applicable for 75 lakh tonnes of onion. However, the industry estimates, the arrival of onion during November 1 to December 15 in Maharashtra would be around 5 lakh quintals only.