ALLIUM CEPA
The conflict between onion traders and farmers took a new twist on 2011, with traders boycotting the auction of the commodity at the Lasalgaon onion marketyard in Nashik.
Onion prices had crashed following the arrival of a late winter crop and imported ones. The fresh dispute brought up by the traders was that porters in the market yard were not working properly, causing loss of onions in handling and transport.
They demanded that the porters should pick onions that spill out of vehicles in the market yard and pack them properly in gunny bags.
The traders had earlier demanded that farmers should cart onions in gunny bags of 50 kg each and not in loose (bulk). They had gone on strike to this demand, after which a meeting with officials was held and farmers were given time till March 1 to start carting in onions in 50 kg bags.
Earlier, the farmers had boycotted the auction in protest against the traders’ practice of discounting 2 kg onions per quintal for loss in storage and handling.
Sources said with commodity arrivals on the rise and traders resorting to pressure tactics, the onion markets were heading for a glut and a further price crash as the commodity being harvested was highly perishable and could not be stored.
In 2013, a kilo of onions cost about Rs. 60 in India. While production has been affected because of drought conditions in Maharashtra, the largest onion producing state in the country, experts say hoarding of onions by many traders has caused an artificial crisis.
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